A New slash Old World
by Jazzola
Summary: It's a new world for Gene, but very familiar to Alex... An alternative ending to series 3 episode 8. Please read and review; my first Ashes to Ashes fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Please be nice as this is my first Ashes to Ashes fanfic, so read and review and tell me what you thought! Jazzola :)

* * *

The door opened. The sound filtered through.

Alex paused for the briefest of seconds. Something hammered through her, something that she only just understood; the longing for life, for freedom, for the worlds she had lost and found, and mixed in with it her love for her daughter and her Guv, her Gene, and the happiness she had felt in Fenchurch CID…

The door opened all the way, and Alex stepped in.

Just as she stepped, Gene cried out behind her.

Alex swerved, yelping herself, and tried to push the door open again, to reach Gene, but it refused to budge; it pushed her into the Railway Arms, knocking her back, and Alex pushed herself into it and tried with all her force to open it, screaming and beginning to let tears seep down her face and pummelling the smooth glass with her clenched fists. Nelson watched silently, his enigmatic smile in place on his gaunt cheeks, waiting for the flash of light that he could see fizzling away where Gene Hunt had been standing outside…

Alex vanished, with a burst of bright white flooding Nelson's eyes, her hammering on the door vanishing and the sound of her ragged, desperate breathing and muffled sobs fading away in his ears.

"Another time, mon brav," he murmured to himself, turning away to serve a thirsty customer.

* * *

Alex opened her eyes slowly, feeling light flood them and the warmth of the sun on her skin. Someone was panting next to her, but she couldn't figure out who without looking round at them.

"Ow…" she murmured as she sat up, rubbing her head and looking at where the sound was coming from.

Her heart skipped a beat as she saw the scene around them.

Gene was lying next to her, staring around with wild, wide eyes at the area, which was hauntingly familiar to Alex but strange and foreign to him.

"Oh my God…" Alex whispered, pushing herself over and clutching Gene with both arms. "Gene, we're… we're back in my world. In 2008. I'm home, Gene… I'm home… But I don't understand…"

"I haven't got the faintest bloody clue either," Gene muttered, too stunned to even make one of his better retorts as he took in the scene of the completely unfamiliar city in front of him. His eyes were wide and amazed as he saw people walking past the alleyway they had somehow landed in, talking on their mobile phones, talking and laughing, girls walking past with their twenty-first-century fashion and boys on skateboards and headphones plugged into their ears.

"Well, are we going to sit here all bloody day, then?" he managed to whisper as Alex stood up and looked over herself critically.

"No. Do I look like a prostitute?"

"No, you look like an office worker," Gene said simply, feeling too disjointed and out of place to even add in one of his characteristic one-liners. That and his Bollykecks had just kissed him… Overall, he was in complete and utter shock.

"Bolly, what the hell's going on?"

"We're in my world," Alex replied swiftly, putting her hand up to her head and feeling the scar from the bullet on her scalp. It was the first time she had felt it, and she smiled slightly as she pulled Gene up, catching him as he staggered.

"Are you going to stand up on your own two legs or not?"

Gene nodded wordlessly and turned towards the entrance of the alleyway, his eyes taking in the scene but not as panicky as before. Alex couldn't believe what was happening.

"Oh my God, Gene…"

She shook her head, laughing slightly as she pulled him out, slipping her hand into his and taking it as a good sign that he didn't remove his palm from her grasp. Secretly, Gene cursed himself for being a puff, even though he was enjoying the feel of Alex's smooth skin on his, and walked out after his DI.

A group of revellers strolled carelessly across the street, yelling drunkenly and happily, and through their cries Alex managed to decode one phrase.

"Happy New 2009!"

"I thought you said 2008?" Gene asked, looking round at Alex with his stormy blue eyes still wide with shock and disbelief. Alex shook her head.

"Come on, I was only a few hours off… Where are we?"

Gene looked round, his eyes roving the street signs nearby, and gave a little chuckle.

"Take a look for yourself, Bollykecks," he grinned, spinning her round to see the sign, Alex took one look and gave a little laugh herself.

"Fenchurch!"

"Yeah, Fenchurch. Ring any bells, Bolly?"

Gene smiled at the sign once more, and turned back to Alex, his eyes questioning.

"So what now?"

Alex turned and took a look at the train station a little way away, pulling Gene towards it and turning back to him as she did so.

"We're going to my home. We'll stay there for the night."

Alex pointed to the sky. It was dark, with the stars speckling the ink-black sky and the street lamps dully lit outside the alleyway they had exited. Gene frowned at the sky.

"I've seen too many bloody stars recently, Bolly."

Alex allowed herself a laugh and walked into the station, Gene on her heels and eager to avoid being lost in this strange new world.

* * *

A/N: OK, how did it go? Please tell me, I would be so thankful for some feedback and some pointers if you have any! Thanks. Jazzola :)


	2. Chapter 2

The train ride to Alex's home had never seemed longer to Alex as she sat with her shoulder brushing Gene's and her bag on her lap, the familiar bag she had carried the day she was shot. Thinking on it, looking over herself, these were the self same clothes she had worn that fateful day when she had travelled across the decades. She glanced over at Gene, comparing him to the commuters on either side of him. He looked normal enough, maybe a little gothic with his long black coat but normal. His eyes took in the signs and people and appliances all around him with shock, still at sea in this amazing new world so different to his.

"What the hell is that, Bolly?" he muttered, pointing to the ticket carousel in front of him and the slot. Alex smiled.

"Let me show you, Guv."

She walked forwards and placed her ticket in the slot for the machine, and it pulled it in and allowed her through the carousel. She slipped it out of the other end and nodded to Gene, shoving it in her pocket.

"Your turn, Guv."

Gene swallowed, hoping not to make a fool of himself in front of Alex (although he'd never admit it), and pushed the card into the slot, watching as it was gently whisked in.

"Now you go through the carousel."

He proceeded through carefully, not with his normal heavy-handedness and with a definite sense of being completely out of his depth in this new version of his world. Alex took the card out the other end for him and grasped the sleeve of his coat, not wanting him to get lost in the station.

"We'll get a taxi, my house is only five minutes away."

Gene nodded. Alex gave him a smile and headed towards the taxi ranks, feeling a little alien herself but so experienced with stations like these that she could find her way around them blindfolded.

"I wonder if Molly will be there," she murmured as the taxi took them towards her street, her heart skipping a beat as she thought of her daughter. Gene nodded and looked out of the window, taking in this new version of London. Still everything awed him, from the people to the appliances and cars he could see. A teenage girl with perfectly straight red hair and black skinny jeans pulled out an iPod Touch as the taxi went past her. A child ran out of one house holding a Wii remote and pursued by two other children. A man walked out of one of the houses holding his mobile phone to his ear and pulling out his car keys as he went, slipping into a Smart car.

It was all so new, and so different.

Gene had thought he would feel threatened at first, but as he looked over at his Bolly he wondered if maybe he was somehow relaxed with her around.

"Gene Hunt doesn't do love," he muttered roughly to himself, turning away from his former DI.

But something inside him told him that might not be true after all.

* * *

As Gene had expected, Alex lived in one of the posh areas of London, in a three-bedroom house with modern, styled curtains and whitewashed brick. The other houses on the street were practically carbon copies of the house, but none had the jasmine bush next to the front door or the intricately-carved wooden bench in the alcove.

"I planted that bush with Molly," Alex whispered, crouching down and pressing her finger to one of the delicate blooms on the bush. She sniffed it gently, breathing in the familiar smell, and stood up, looking over at Gene and seeing him look away quickly. Her emotions were all over the place. She felt her chin wobbling.

"Gene- I can't believe I'm here- and you're here as well-"

She knew she was about to lose the battle with the tears in her eyes; Gene, seeing them welling in her piercing, delicate green eyes, hurriedly allowed her to hug him and wrapped his arms round her.

"You're home now," he murmured to her, patting her shoulder as her sobbing increased. "You're home now. Dunno where I'll bloody go, but you're home."

Alex looked up at him as if he'd gone crazy.

"Where else can you go, Guv? You'll stay here. You haven't got anywhere else to go."

"My house, maybe?"

A spark of hope for something familiar fizzed in his chest for a second before Alex shook her head.

"That street was destroyed years ago, Guv. Everything was knocked down and they built a supermarket there instead. A Tesco."

Gene sighed.

"So I guess I'm bloody homeless, then."

"I've got a spare bedroom here, you can have it."

Her statement brought up the question neither of them had really put into words yet; why were they here and how had this happened?

"What happened to me to bring me here?" was going round Gene's head.

"Why is Gene here and why am I back?" was drilling into Alex's brain.

Alex shook her head abruptly and dug in her bag, taking out her keys and opening the door. Gene stood back and watched her hands shaking as they did so, one wiping her mascara from her cheek and the other pushing on the handle and opening the path to the hallway.

"Come on in, Guv, it's cold."

"Why are you calling me Guv? That world is gone, Bolly."

Alex smiled at him, her eyes fixed firmly on his, brown-flecked green into stormy blue.

"The same reason you still call me Bolly, Guv. It's you. The name means you to me. It's what I've always called you."

Gene gave a little smile and stepped inside, feeling the warmth wrapping around him like a thick blanket and shivering slightly in it, kicking the radiator by accident on his way in.

"Sorry…" he muttered, bending down to straighten the radiator cover on it. Alex shook her head.

"No matter."

Just as he stood up and brushed himself down, a shrill ringing came from the lounge. Alex turned, her mouth opening in shock.

"Someone's… someone's calling me… why would they call me? I thought I was dead in this world…"

Alex moved over to the phone, keeping her eyes on it but turning back at the last second to look at Gene.

"Should I pick it up?"

"It's your bloody call, go ahead," he muttered, his eyes on the handset as well, the sleek plastic of it and the small buttons lit up on the body. Alex took a deep breath and reached out to pick it up.

* * *

A/N: Please tell me how this is going, I'm really not sure about it all still… Thanks for reading! Extra thanks to everyone who reviewed and reviews! Jazzola :)


	3. Chapter 3

Alex's long, delicate fingers were shaking as she picked up the call, pressing the "accept call" button so faintly that it almost didn't register. Gene watched like a hawk, his eyes narrowed slightly, his stance alert.

"So, Alexandra. You've made it this far. You and your precious DCI have travelled forward over twenty years to get you home and neither of you are dead- yet."

Alex swallowed. Next to her, Gene clenched his leather-gloved fists.

"You have more struggles to come, you know. And wouldn't you like to know the fates of Shaz, Chris, Ray- and your precious Molly?"

"What have you done to Molly?" Alex gasped, pressing the handset closer to her ear. The voice cackled.

"This is the 2009 you have come back to, Alexandra. But there is a difference. You don't know anyone in this world until you have proved to me that you deserve those people. The only person you have is Gene- the bugger slipped through my net to be with you."

Alex's eyes found Gene, standing next to her with his eyes fixed on the handset. His face was as shocked as hers.

"But it won't last. Once he's gone, you will have no-one to protect you or help you. You will be vulnerable… you will be helpless… all your psychology crap will be useless. All you will have is darkness… you will be _mine_."

Alex gasped out loud as the voice rang through the room, resounding off the bare walls and into the ears of her and her DCI. Gene strode forwards and grabbed the phone roughly, not hurting Alex but showing his emotions as he put it to his own ear and began to speak.

"Now listen here, dip-shit, if you're here to hurt Alex then you're going to have to bloody get past me first-"

"I will, Hunt," the voice said silkily. "I will get past you. I promise faithfully that I will get past you to your DI and I will take her and she will be mine when you aren't there. Do you really think that all your swagger and your bullshit will save her here? This is not the world of rough, tough police officers who are simply trigger-happy and have no sense of the real world- this is a place where people are governed by others and made to answer for the crimes they commit. Your cavalier "I'm-going-to-save-my-Bolly-and-I-don't-care-if-I-kill" attitude won't swing here. Oh yes, I know your nickname for her. I know all about both of you… I will foil you. I will take you both down and I will start with you, DCI Hunt."

The line went dead. Alex snatched the handset back and checked for any kind of caller ID.

"Nothing… it's an unidentifiable caller."

Alex dropped the phone back onto the table and faced Gene properly, seeing the boyish defiance she knew and an uncertainty she didn't.

"Gene, it's probably just a prank call…"

The words melted on her lips as she realised how stupid that sounded. Not only did this person know her name- her full name- but he also knew that Gene was with her, Gene's name, their positions in the Metropolitan Police from 1983 and even Gene's attitude towards policing, although a lot of people knew that last one, either having heard of the Manc Lion or been on the receiving end of a punch or kick from him. She shook her head, a blush creeping over her slim cheeks.

"No. It's not a prank call. It's someone who knows everything about the situation we're in. What if what they said was right? Molly- Evan- my friends- my colleagues- maybe they're all vanished in this world- oh Gene, I wish this would just end- I need my daughter back and my life back- I can't take much more of this-"

Gene, feeling almost as distraught as her, reached forwards to pull her into a hug, letting her rest her head on the spot on his shoulder it knew well. Her hair was still straight in this world, flowing over his shoulder; he missed the rampant, milk-chocolate curls that had graced her face and flown around her skull before. Pushing the thought out of his head and thinking "For goodness' sake, Gene, you're turning into a bloody nancy hairdresser!", he rubbed her back slightly and sat her down on the plush leather sofa. She was crying now, trying to save her mascara and failing, letting it make snail-trails down her cheeks and onto her lips, staining their bright red with black. Gene wiped a little off with one glove and almost immediately snatched his hand away, once again cursing himself for being a puff. Alex, guessing what he was thinking, smirked to herself and stood up shakily to sort herself out in the downstairs toilet.

Reappearing with her make-up once again perfect and her green eyes ablaze with a plan, Alex sat down on the sofa and looked over at Gene, beckoning for him to sit down next to her. He plumped himself down, drawing his coat off just before he did and slinging it over the arm of the sofa.

"Here's what I want to do. We'll use a tracker from my old station to find out where the phone call came from, whether it was a house, a mobile or what."

"A house or a what?"

"A mobile phone. There are millions more now than there were in the 80's, Guv, pretty much everyone has a mobile now."

Alex dug her own faithful Motorola out of her bag and showed it to him.

"My point is, we may be able to trace the caller and then we'll just have to persuade him or her to do what we want."

"Which is what, Bolls?"

"Let me see my Molly again," Alex said quietly and simply, smiling slightly at Gene. "And keep us both alive. I want to see my daughter again… I want to get back to my normal life."

She pushed over her fringe and let Gene see the scar on her scalp where the bullet had entered her head.

"That is proof that something huge has happened to me, Gene. The scar from when I was shot by that man and found myself in 1981. Maybe I'm properly alive again, I don't know. But whatever has happened, we're both here and I want it to stay that way. I just want to go back to normality."

"Do you… do you…"

In about three years of working with Gene Hunt, Alex had never known him so hesitant.

"Yes, Guv?"

"Do you want me here? Or do you want me to bugger off home?"

Alex knew what he meant.

"No, Gene. I want you here. With me."

Gene's face softened slightly, the harsh lines on his face becoming less stubborn and craggy as he took in his DI's face. Subtly, she shifted herself closer to him on the sofa, and reached out to put her hand on top of his. Gene looked down at her smooth palm on his rough, work-toughened fingers and gave his first real smile since being brought into this world.

"You're going to turn me into a real bloody poofter, Bolly."

Alex just laughed.

* * *

A/N: I hope people like the Galex… hopefully there'll be more in the next chapter! Thanks to all the awesome people who've reviewed and are about to review (pretty please? I live for these reviews :P)! Jazzola :)


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I am hoping to include a little more Galex in this chapter, just for those people who've told me they want it; please tell me if you want more or less of it or what, I am writing for you guys and I want you to like what I write. :) Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, and here we go. Jazzola :)

* * *

It was a clear-cut plan; take the handset to the station, along with Gene, and use the call tracker there to find out where the signal for the call had come from. Alex had thought it all through. When they found the person who had made the call, Alex would interrogate them, force them to let her go home, and take Gene with her. Her gut told her that leaving Gene once, however temporary that had been, had been hard enough and she didn't want to lose him a second time.

"Don't talk to anyone unless they talk to you first, and don't swear," Alex instructed him as they drove towards the station, sitting in Alex's Lexus and with the seatbelts firmly clipped in place despite Gene's protests.

"Gene Hunt does not wear bloody seatbelts!" he had growled, making to take it off, but Alex had stopped him by grabbing his hand.

"Gene Hunt will have to put up with it, this is 2009 now, Guv. It's the law and you're meant to be a copper, not a common criminal. I would get fined and you might well end up in the dock of a court, so have some bloody sense and leave it on!"

Gene hadn't looked impressed, but he had put up with the sleek black seatbelt and hadn't made any more comments on it.

"So you say this gadget thing can trace a phone call to wherever it came from?" he asked curiously as Alex stopped for a red light. Alex nodded.

"One of the wonders of the modern police force, Guv."

"You'll have to stop calling me Guv," Gene added as they picked up speed away from the light. Alex reached down to change gear and found Gene's hand already on the gear stick.

"Oh… sorry," he muttered, embarrassed, whipping his hand away. Alex changed the gear and smiled at him.

"Being a backseat driver, Guv?"

He glared at her, but his slight smile gave him away.

"Too used to being the front seat driver," he remarked, looking out of the window and drinking in the scenery. The streets had never looked this odd to him… it felt like being a young child being taken through a hospital, looking round at all the strange things on either side of you, the people lying ill and listless in hospital beds. It was so strange and alien that he began to feel frightened despite telling himself firmly, under his breath so that Alex didn't hear, that Gene Hunt didn't do frightened. Alex snuck a sideways glance at him and smiled.

"Seems weird, doesn't it, Guv?" she asked gently, reaching over and putting her hand on his arm, feeling the familiar sensation of his thick black coat under her fingers and rubbing it. He turned and gave her a confused look.

"How the bloody hell would you know?"

Alex focused back on the road as the lights changed, but pulled over as soon as she could.

"You remember when I first arrived in 1981?"

"How could I bloody forget?" Gene muttered. "Dressed like a bloody prozzie and rambling about me being some kind of fantasy and it all being in your head. I was thinking I'd have to call the men from the loony bin in for you, Bolls."

Alex laughed quietly.

"I would have beaten you to the phone, trust me."

Gene eyed her closely, his eyes flickering down to her hand on his arm. Almost sub-consciously, he moved his hand to rest over hers.

"I had just been shot in the head. I thought I was going to die; my life flashed before my eyes, my brain was conjuring up all sorts of visions and such… I had no idea what was going on at all. One minute I was in 2008, the next I was in 1981. I had been working on Sam Tyler's case at work so I thought it was some crazy world my brain had cooked up for me while I was in a coma. But then it didn't seem like it after a while… and I slowly realised that it wasn't. That you were real. All of you. You, Shaz, Ray, Chris, even people like Viv and Keats… you weren't figments of my imagination. You were real as anyone I had ever known. And you remember that little girl whose car was blown up with her parents inside?"

Tears sprang to Alex's eyes as she remembered, and Gene hurriedly put his arm round her, letting her rest her head on his shoulder, his brain working out her next words.

"That was me. That was me as a little girl. That's how I lost my parents, Gene. That little girl was me. And I remembered you taking hold of my hand, and I thought it was Evan, but all this time, it was you. That's when I realised that you were real… well, I stopped thinking you were my imagination, anyway."

Alex sniffed back her tears and looked up at Gene, her eyes pitiful.

"You must think I'm such an emotional little girl…"

Had they been back in Fenchurch CID, Gene would have most likely made up some snippy comeback for that, but they weren't and Alex was clearly very upset so he refrained and bit his tongue back. Unfortunately, he did it literally, biting too hard and drawing blood from his tongue.

"Agh," he muttered, swallowing the blood and turning his attention back to Alex.

"Come on, Bolls, you're home now, and we'll fight together, right? Whoever this bloody bastard is who's stopping you getting home, we'll stop him and you'll see your little girl again."

"What about you, Gene?" Alex whispered, looking deep into his eyes, her familiar, porcelain green into his stormy grey-flecked blue.

"I'll go wherever I have to go."

"No," Alex hissed. "You're coming with me. I can't do this without you, Gene. I need you with me."

Gene smiled slightly.

"You sure about that, Bollykecks? I thought you hated me."

Alex gasped in shock.

"When did I say that? I don't, Gene, I swear I don't…"

Gene smiled properly.

"Just in one of our "arguments"," he said, his fingers sketching quotation marks around the word, the same as Alex's had done around his name upon her arrival at Fenchurch.

"The ones that rocked CID? Oh, I remember," Alex smiled, leaning towards Gene, her eyes still moist. Gene did the only thing he could think to do- he leaned forwards and kissed her, on the lips, softly and calmly but lovingly, like they had done before they had thought they would be parted for years to come. Alex melted into the kiss, closing her eyes, sinking into her DCI's lips.

They broke apart, looking into each other's eyes and smiling. Alex licked her lips and frowned.

"Why can I taste blood?"

Gene put his hand up to his mouth and touched it, drawing his fingertip away stained with blood.

"Oh… shit."

"Spit into that," Alex commanded, holding out a tissue. Gene did so, wiping the blood from his mouth and stuffing the tissue into his pocket.

"What did you do, bite your tongue?"

He nodded, swallowing back more blood. Alex smiled at him and turned the ignition back on, shoving the car into gear.

"Come on. I've got a daughter to get back to."

Gene nodded, but didn't miss the overjoyed look on Alex's face as she rejoined the rush hour traffic.


	5. Chapter 5

"And who would you be, madam?"

Alex took her badge out and flashed it at the man on the desk, giving him a glance of her face and identity before stuffing it back in her pocket again, feeling a little vulnerable somehow despite Gene's behemoth-like presence behind her. He was looking around the lobby, a small smile on his face.

"Like 2009?" Alex hissed to him as they walked down the corridor to the left and into a room filled with equipment. Gene nodded.

"Now I understand how you know all your bloody psycho-bollocks, Bolls."

Alex laughed and flashed her card at the man standing outside the door, guarding the expensive equipment, who nodded and pushed the door open to allow them access.

Machines bleeped all around the room as they entered, monitors showing graphs and system errors in the "Repair" section of the room and otherwise resting on tables or the floor in other parts of it, machines for everything the police could possibly seem to need to do, it seemed to Gene as he stared wide-eyed around the room. Alex smiled back at him and extended her hand, grasping his and pulling him towards one corner of the room.

Gene turned round again as Alex turned on the machine and slotted her house handset into the allocated area, his blue eyes taking in the areas around them and the screens and boards and all the paraphernalia that this world demanded of its police force…

Gene's irises found a green screen on one of the faulty computers, and he began to walk slowly towards it, not knowing what was drawing him in but needing to get closer to it, to touch it, to understand it…

* * *

_A beeping reached Gene's ears as he reached out to touch the monitor in one world and opened his eyes slightly in another._

"_He's back! He's made it…"_

_Gene tried to focus but couldn't; the world was a blur and he couldn't make anything out. Someone was stood above him in a blue gown, his hair scraped back, a surgeon maybe, or just a doctor. Gene was struggling to understand, and fright infused his chest as he saw the man press something onto his bare skin, just above his heart. He tried taking in some of his surroundings; to one side was a blank room, to the other was a wide, thickly-glazed window, with snow falling gently and blanketing the outside world._

"_Look for something familiar," something, maybe the voice that Alex had left in his head, told him, and he did so. The red bonnet outside the window seemed to be something he knew and loved, but the sight was overridden when he heard a faint young voice from his left._

"_He will live, won't he? The Guv'll be OK?"_

_Shaz's voice. Gene would never have admitted it to anyone, but hearing it was like being enveloped in a hug by an old friend._

"_What's happening?" he tried to whisper, but it wouldn't come, and the world slowly began fading, fading into blackness and darkness and the noises around him becoming fainter and fainter…_

* * *

"Gene! GENE!"

Gene opened his eyes, looking up and seeing Alex's eyes hovering above his, full of concern, and her hands reaching out to help him stand up.

"Are you OK, Gene?" she asked, gently leaning him back against the table while he got his breath back. Several people had gathered round, staring at Gene, murmuring amongst themselves: "Is he epileptic? Did he have a seizure? Should we get an ambulance? Is he ill? How did he just collapse?"

"Mr Hunt just needs some fresh air, please can we go through?" Alex called, dispersing the crowd and assuring them that there was no need for an ambulance. They moved back willingly, making a corridor for the two to reach the door. Alex slipped the print-out from the machine into her pocket at the same time as steering the slightly dazed Gene towards the door. As he walked towards it, he noted that outside, snow was beginning to pile up on the cars and blanket the dark tarmac of the car park.

Opening her snow-covered car's door and slipping in, Alex waited for Gene to have plopped himself down next to her and be looking out of the gradually-being-covered windscreen to ask her question.

"Gene, what happened? And I want the truth. If it was some kind of flashback or something, I want to know."

Gene nodded, his eyes reading the warning on the back of the sun-visor but distant and faint; they may as well have been left back in 1983 for all the focus they had.

"I was in hospital, Bolls. Shaz was there, I could hear her talking, and they put some monitor thing on my chest when she was asking if I was going to be OK. And it was snowing there, just like it's snowing here."

Alex frowned at her reflection in the rear-view mirror, taking in Gene's words. She slipped her hand onto his and waited for his reaction to her touch. It was a brief smile, nothing more; his mind was over two decades away.

"What if… what if I die there, Bolls? What'll happen to me?"

"Gene," Alex whispered, putting her hand on his cheek, willing him to turn round and look at her. He did so.

"Gene, I promise you faithfully, whatever happens to you in that world doesn't matter in this one. You might feel ill here because you're worse there, but that's all and that passes. When I died in this world I was fine in that world; I didn't feel a thing. It was all irrelevant for everything other than that. And you're so pale you could blend in with that snow perfectly, so I think you're getting worse there."

Gene pulled down the sun-visor and had a look at himself in the mirror on the front of it. Alex was right; he could pass for a bloody polar bear.

"OK. Er… thanks."

"No problem," Alex said softly, pulling the print-out from the tracking machine out of her pocket and holding it up to read it. Gene leaned over and read over her shoulder, giving his characteristic smirk as he noticed that when his breath brushed over her shoulder, she gave a little shiver.

"Cold, Lady Bolls?"

She smiled as well and focused back on the print-out, her hazel-flecked eyes keen.

"Police number and so therefore withheld… so whoever's behind this is a copper?"

"Police bloody corruption," Gene growled, before Alex shook her head firmly.

"That's a thing of the past, Guv. This someone is just a copper; they're not corrupt and trying to get at us or anything like that."

Gene nodded to show he understood, his normal abrupt jerk of the head, and Alex found herself appreciating how close he was and wishing she had had the initiative to ask him on a date properly when she was back in 1983; they could have spent months, maybe even more than a year, together…

And then reality crashed down. Gene had slipped through the net once, and so the person doing this would be out to foil him this time. He might well have to return to his own time, where, it seemed, he was critically ill for some reason…

Alex shook her head to clear it, reaching out and slotting the keys into the ignition just as someone ran out and signalled frantically to Alex.

"Miss Drake! Miss Drake! Hold on!"

"Who are you?" Alex asked, winding her window down. The young woman stopped and panted for a second, getting her breath back, before throwing something into the car and standing up properly.

"Orders from one of the people at Scotland Yard- they said to drive to the storage park a couple of miles away and ask for storage space 12. You need to hurry, they'll be locking up soon for lunch."

"OK, thank you," Alex said, giving the woman a confused but thankful as she drove away. Gene picked up the object the woman had thrown in and quickly identified it as a key, with the fob rusted and broken but still recognisable as a key.

"Wonder what this opens up?" he murmured, turning it over. It seemed familiar somehow…

_What's its purpose? _both Alex and Gene thought as they rushed to the storage area, with the young woman's words in their heads and the keys clutched in Gene's leather-gloved fingers.

* * *

A/N: I am so so sorry this took so long to get up, only I have had four GCSEs in the past week and so have been very busy… I hope you liked it, and more Galex in the next chapter, I wanted to focus on the plot here (sorry!).Keep tuned and thanks for reviewing those who already have, and for those who are about to (who deserve thanks, please please please review!). Jazzola :)


	6. Chapter 6

"We're just about to bloody close, you loonies," the man on the front desk muttered, standing up reluctantly as Alex flashed him her police badge. "The space has been there for twenty bloody years anyway, hard to believe you suddenly need it in such a fricking rush."

"Just get it open, you puff," Gene said darkly, sighing inwardly as the man gave him a look which doubled as both filthy and curious.

"A puff? Where the bloody hell did you get that from?"

He turned away, laughing quietly to himself at Gene's expense. Gene clenched his fists and Alex grabbed them both quickly, running her fingers over them to stop him doing something stupid. They unclenched a little, but not enough to say that Alex was still completely confident that the seedy man who was now unlocking the storage space wouldn't get hurt if he chose (unwisely) to throw another less-than-polite comment Gene's way.

"Let it go," she whispered to him, smiling as he turned and his eyes lost their fire, meeting hers and seeming to be doused by her sea-green irises.

"Thank you, Guv," she murmured as the door swung open and the man stepped back, his shoe catching on a rut as he did so and causing him to lose his balance and fall heavily onto his rear end. Gene sniggered as Alex leant down and helped him up, and after shooting him a silencing look Alex took the keys and proceeded into storage space number 12.

A glisten of red… four gleaming silver rings… a familiar numberplate, JLY 751V… the sleek emblem down the side door… the stout, slightly worn tyres…

Gene gave a gasp of delight as he took in nothing more or less than his mighty, lion-roar-emitting, seemingly immortal Audi Quattro, polished to look like new and with the bullet holes vanished, replaced by smooth, blood-red metal. A light sheen of dust covered the car, but, Gene knew, that would be wiped away the second this car set tyre on the street and got up to a reasonable speed.

"My Quattro…" he whispered, moving forwards and placing a hand on the bonnet, feeling emotions welling up inside him at the sight of the old car. Alex smiled at him and looked down at the keys, since Gene had eyes only for the beautiful, magnificent car under his fingers and the details he had thought he would never see again.

"Are these the Quattro keys, Gene?" she asked, holding them up. He shook his head.

"Don't think so. The key for the Quattro had a red fob on the end."

Alex looked down at the keys again, frowning. She was certain it was smaller than it had been a second ago…

Foraging in her pocket, she found the rest of the key, a bright red fob with the four Audi rings doodled on it faintly in blue ballpoint pen.

"Is that it?" she asked, holding the two halves together. Gene looked at them and nodded, a smile blooming over his face, which did two things to his normally sulky, sultry face; one, it made it look much brighter, like the sun had come out from behind a particularly stubborn cloud, and two, it made him look about ten years younger.

"If you're quite finished, I have to bloody lock up already," the man muttered, his eyes on his watch. Alex rolled her eyes at him.

"We'll just drive it out, then."

She handed Gene the key, smiling as her fingers brushed his and sent sparks up her arm, and slipped into the passenger seat.

Gene, a broad smile from side to side of his face, slotted the keys into the ignition and turned them quickly, expecting the roar and rumble of the powerful engine, the purr of its smoothness once they were going…

Instead, he was met with silence.

"What the bloody hell?"

Alex took a look at the petrol gauge. Empty.

"Oh… Guv…"

* * *

"This is not how I reckoned on getting back to your place," a very grumpy Gene Hunt muttered as the tow truck turned into Alex's street with the Quattro on the back and Gene and Alex still sitting in it. The truck had turned up with no petrol and the nearest station had been a mile away from the storage space, so the truck had just winched the Quattro up and taken it back. Gene had been intrigued by the whole thing, since it had been very different in the 80's, but once he was told that he wouldn't be able to drive the Quattro home his attitude towards the whole thing had cooled considerably.

"Stop whingeing," Alex sighed, putting her hand on his arm as they stopped outside her house and the Quattro was lowered onto her drive, with her Renault being parked in the street. Gene pouted, but let it go.

"Thanks for the lift," Alex told the guys in the tow truck, handing them a small wodge of notes and turning back to Gene as they drove away, one man turning round to have another look at Alex's arse. Gene narrowed his eyes at him and held two fingers up towards the retreating tow truck, and Alex tutted and lowered his hand herself.

"Come on, Guv, it's freezing, let's go back inside."

The door opened to an even icier house, since Alex had forgotten to put the central heating on. Gene stamped around the lounge in his snakeskin boots and rubbed his hands together, shivering under his thick coat but determined not to let Alex see ("Gene Hunt doesn't do shivering like some nancy puff," he told himself firmly), while Alex found the dial and turned the radiators and boiler on. It took a while, but eventually she and Gene were sitting in the kitchen, which was the warmest part of the house since she had put the oven on to make some food, with mugs of tea in their gloved hands and peace reigning throughout the house. Gene smiled at the Quattro parked outside through the window, and Alex laughed at him.

"You can't get enough of that car, can you?"

"Like I said before, Bolls, it's more a part of me than my own ball-sack," he grinned, his eyes still feasting on the glorious red and noticing some nosy neighbours having a peek at it as well. A small group of kids on skateboards and listening to iPods stopped to have a look at it. Alex rolled her eyes.

"You're going to have to be less crude here, Guv, people won't like it."

"How much has this bloody country actually changed, Bolls?" Gene grumbled, standing up and tracing the condensation on the lounge window with one leather-gloved finger. Alex considered.

"Well, you have to go through proper procedure in the police force now, and you aren't allowed to beat up suspects or just arrest them on gut feeling."

"My gut has never let me down, Bolly."

"I know, but you need concrete evidence now. There isn't a lot of, if any, police corruption, at least. Oh, I almost forgot…"

Alex peered through the window at the Quattro and sighed.

"No tax disc, Guv. It's not road-legal."

"Meaning?"

"I'll go and get it a disc online, and some insurance, I must have a decent amount of money here. You can't drive it on the road yet, Gene."

Gene sighed with frustration and plopped down on the sofa, only to jump up again as the phone shrilled through the sudden silence.

Alex moved quickly towards it, grabbing Gene's hand as she did so for comfort. Gene squeezed her slim fingers back and stood next to her as she carefully slid the handset off the stand and up to her ear.

"So, Alexandra. Beginning to get used to life back here in 2009, are we? And your precious Gene as well… let me tell you that you won't have him for much longer."

"Can you just tell me who you are, and where you're calling from?" Alex asked, but the sound cut off and a faint beeping came through to tell Alex that the caller had rung off, hanging up on her.

"Gene…" Alex whispered, turning to him with tears in her eyes. Gene pulled her into a comforting hug, resting his chin on top of her head as she blinked searing-hot tears back, breathing in his familiar smell and feeling the comfort of the rugged cloth and soft velveteen of his coat on her cheeks and forehead. He felt so solid, so real, and Alex gave a little sob as she remembered the face of the young man callously killed and left in a shallow grave on some farmland.

"Ssh, Bolls, don't cry, I'm not going anywhere without you," Gene murmured, rubbing her back gently and squeezing her slim shoulders. Her clothes were so different; he missed her slim, arse-hugging jeans and 80's fashion. At least he still wore the clothes he was familiar with, although they were a bit creased by now.

"Maybe we should go to bed," Alex whispered, looking up at Gene through tear-reddened eyes. Gene nodded, shyly pressing a kiss to her lips, his familiar hesitation coming through, and turned to head upstairs just as Alex grabbed his arm and pulled him back round, kissing him herself before letting him go up and grabbing some wine, pouring it for herself to get nice and drunk and push the pictures of Gene's death and Keats and Shaz and Ray and Chris and Molly out of her head.

* * *

A/N: Please don't forget to review, reviews make my day! Thanks to all my lovely readers, you guys rock :) Jazzola :)


	7. Chapter 7

"Come on, Bolly… you're pissed as a penguin, love, up to bed now…"

"No, Gene," Alex slurred, throwing her arms round his neck and making to kiss him. Gently disentangling himself from her, Gene picked her up in his arms and made for the stairs, Alex giggling uncontrollably and reeking of wine and sweat and worry. He bent his head as he struggled up, blaming himself for letting her get into this state. She was beyond drunk; she was completely and utterly legless, and he hated it when she was like this, when her usual composure and uptight stance was replaced with a woman who seemed to be almost falling apart.

"Which one's your room?" Gene muttered, looking into the rooms upstairs one by one and finding one with a cream duvet and a walk-in wardrobe full of smart clothes and evening dresses. Assuming this was Alex's, Gene slid her onto the bed and tucked the covers around her. Fighting his own fatigue, he went through to the little ensuite bathroom and got some water to pour into her mouth, then sat down in the chair next to the bed and gazed down at her, watching as she fell asleep, the deep slumber fuelled by the alcohol that had been flowing down her throat while he had been sitting up in the guest room, thinking hard and remembering and wondering and formulating little plans in his head. Gene punched himself mentally and lay back, letting sleep take him over.

As soon as his eyes closed, he was out.

Alex woke at midnight, still a little woozy from the booze but now sane again, and saw Gene in the chair, the moonlight from outside illuminating his sleeping, peaceful face and making him look young, tranquil, almost vulnerable. The pout and the anger had vanished, and in their place was peaceful blankness, not happiness but not sadness either. Alex reached out and brushed a lock of hair from his closed eye, and stood up, rushing through to the loo for a drink and a badly-needed wee.

Coming back, she saw that Gene hadn't moved, and smiled at him as he shifted slightly in the chair she knew to be uncomfortable to sleep on; she had done so once when Molly was little and had the flu and she had tucked her up in this bed and slept in that chair, watching over her. She walked over and shook Gene's shoulder gently.

"Gene? Guv?"

Gene opened his eyes blearily and saw his DI standing over him, a smile on her face and her hand on his shoulder.

"Mmh… hello, yes, what?"

"Did you want to go to bed?"

"Are you still drunk?"

Alex filled in the blanks in her memories of that night.

"No, I don't think so. Am I acting drunk?"

"No."

"Then there you have it. I'm not drunk."

"Fine."

Gene stood up and stretched, his stiff muscles cramping and almost unbearable, but he didn't give any sign of his discomfort and simply walked out, leaving a short "Goodnight, don't let the bed bugs bite" in his wake.

Alex hurriedly pulled off her clothes and got into her little nightie, rolling over on the mattress as she did so, burying her head in the pillow and receiving a faint gasp of Molly's scent as she did so, remembering her little girl again and wondering when she would be back as her mummy again. She silently vowed never to be nasty to Molly again, and promised herself and Molly that she would act like a proper mum when she got home.

Her last thought before she drifted off was wondering if Gene would make a good step-dad.

* * *

"Wakey wakey, Drakey…"

Alex opened her eyes to the sight of Gene standing over her, his eyes feasting on her in her skimpy nightie since the duvet had fallen onto the floor at some point during the night. She glared at him, but noticed that his eyes had a glint of playfulness in them and stopped, instead reaching for her dressing gown and standing up, pulling it over herself and stepping forwards to meet him.

"Morning, Guv."

He gave her a small smile and stepped outside the room to allow someone in.

"They said they were from transport or something."

A young man entered, smiling at Alex and handing her some papers and a tax disc.

"That's for your Audi Quattro, Ma'am, registration plate JLY 751V? You applied for a tax disc and for insurance from More Than."

"Yes, effective of today," Alex replied, taking the disc and documents and smiling. Gene looked annoyed that the man had referred to the Quattro as Alex's. "I printed the relevant papers out, they're just on the bedside table. Sorry that I wasn't up, I had a bit too much to drink last night," she added, smiling ruefully.

"We all need that sometimes," the young man replied, smiling again and moving forwards to check the papers. He left once he was satisfied, leaving Alex with the tax disc and insurance papers for the Quattro and one Gene Hunt who couldn't wait to get out with the car and drive it once again.

"Driving licence?" Alex asked him, and he took his out, putting it in front of her. She nodded.

"It's current, for some reason. You're fine to drive."

"Finally," Gene muttered, grabbing it back and walking out to the Quattro as Alex got dressed.

"Guv!" she yelled out the window as he unlocked it. "Hang on, just let me get dressed, would you? And we need to go to the bank, I've got no money and we need some!"

"Fine!" Gene shouted back, locking the Quattro again and stomping back up the path, his bad temper shining through but being quashed a little when Alex came out with the tax disc and the documents and putting them in the Quattro.

"Now you can drive, but carefully and don't exceed the speed limit, you'll be arrested. No special treatment for coppers now, Guv. I'll give you directions to the bank."

Gene nodded, smiling as the steering wheel slid under his fingers and jumped to life as the car started with a roar, startling two young children playing in a nearby garden and triggering several neighbours to look out of their windows and clock the bright red sporty Audi zooming down to the end of the street and turning onto the main road towards town.

* * *

"It's this way now, Guv."

Gene swung the wheel towards the third exit of the roundabout they were on, the indicator he had barely touched back in 1983 clicking steadily on the dashboard and shining onto the scrubby plants beside the road. Alex sat back, feeling slightly safer than she had felt riding in this car in 1983 and enjoying the purr of the engine and the feel of the familiar seat under her body.

Gene turned off and made to accelerate, getting up to the speed limit as the Quattro soared along, blissfully smooth and agile, as always. A car drew up beside them, and Alex turned to it, slightly confused at its close proximity to them and its speed.

As soon as it had reached the point where it was slightly ahead of the Quattro, it began swerving to one side, the side that Gene and Alex were on, making as though it was going to sweep them off the road. Alex managed to get one good look at the driver's face as he made one attempt and Gene swore, accelerating hard to get away from the ugly black Mercedes that was trying to run them off the tarmac. Their face was coated in a thick balaclava, showing nothing but cold, dark eyes as they flashed at Alex.

And then the bonnet lashed out and the cars made contact, the tortured metal screaming as the impact crushed the doors in and smashed the glass in the windows, thrusting the Quattro off the road and into the ditch next to it. Alex screamed as the world turned over with the Quattro, a blur of green and grey and blue and shards of red, and reached out to grasp for the driver of the car, feeling his suit rough under her fingers and thinking, _If I die, Gene Hunt, I want to die holding you…_

And then the world went black and Alex knew no more.

* * *

A/N: Oh, I love cliffhangers… XD Sorry people! :P Hope you enjoyed it, and please tell me how it's going! You guys rock :) Jazzola :)


	8. Chapter 8

"She's breathing… I've got a pulse…"

Alex thought for a second that she was back in 1982, hearing the voices of paramedics when they found her. Then she remembered the last few seconds for which she had been conscious and what had happened.

"We crashed…" she whispered, the realisation dawning on her. She struggled to sit up, opening her eyes and seeing the face of a paramedic above her and the sides of the crashed Quattro around her.

"Gene…" she murmured, turning her head as one of the paramedics started talking to her. "Gene… is he OK?"

"Sorry, madam?"

"Gene- where is he? Is he alright?"

"The driver of the car's been taken into the ambulance, madam. He'll be fine as soon as we've got him to the hospital."

Alex lay still while they were getting her out, letting them strap her onto a spinal board in case she had any back injuries and turning to see the other ambulance as she was taken to hers. Gene was lying in the back, still and silent, also on a spinal board, with blood trickling down his forehead and oozing into his hair. Someone was holding a cloth to the cut and someone else injected Gene's wrist as Alex was taken away from him, into the back of the ambulance.

The ride was hell, and not only because Alex's arm was sore and cut from the crash, although that seemed to be the only thing that was wrong with her. It was mainly because she was worried about Gene, and worried about the person who had driven them off the road- where were they now? Did they know that Gene and Alex had survived? Did they know where they were and what was happening to them? So many questions, and no answers… Alex had no idea where to start on his identity, either. He might be someone from 1983, such as the infamous Jim Keats, or he might be someone else, but he was definitely male and he was definitely not friendly. She struggled to think who might have decided to do this to them, and who might want to make Gene pay, but came up with a blank and settled back into thinking about Gene and hoping he was OK.

* * *

"'O would yer like to see, madam?"

The young Scottish girl at the main desk in the Royal London Hospital squinted at Alex as she typed into a computer furiously, taking in Alex's bandaged arm in its sling and her pale face under her rumpled hair.

"Gene Hunt, he was admitted with me. We were travelling together when we crashed."

"Is 'e family, love?"

"No, he's- he's my partner."

Alex had no idea if he would say the same, but she needed to see him so she said it anyway. The Scottish girl nodded.

"OK. Yer go down the corridor there, and follo' the signs for Distinction Ward. Go in and inter the third room, then yer ask for him again, OK?"

"Yes. OK. Thank you."

Alex turned away quickly, giving the girl a tremulous smile and not letting her see the moisture that had formed in her eyes.

The walk helped Alex clear her mind a little, and she wondered if she was still in a coma in her world, in a hospital just like this, maybe her world's equivalent of this very hospital. She shuddered at the beep of machines all round, and wondered if Gene would have machines monitoring him, and if he would be awake now.

"Gene Hunt," she said to the young man who greeted her in the room she'd been told to go into, and he nodded and directed her through.

Gene didn't have any machines on him; he was lying in a slight sitting position on a stark white hospital bed, an IV drip in his right arm and his left in a splint. His head was bandaged where it had been bleeding, and his skin was almost as white as the bandage over it; Alex shuddered again when she saw him, her hand travelling to her face and smudging her lipstick as she gently covered her mouth with shock. To see the Manc Lion lying motionless and bandaged on a hospital bed was beyond anything she had thought would happen. It was all her nightmares rolled into one, losing Gene, and she had come so close today; she could only thank her lucky stars he hadn't died.

"Gene?" she whispered, walking over softly and sitting down next to him, half on the bed and half on the chair next to it. He murmured something and made to open his eyes.

"Ssh, it's OK. Don't strain yourself."

He whispered something that sounded suspiciously like "don't patronise me, Bolls" and opened his eyes properly, slivers of his vivid blue meeting her worried green.

"Oh, Gene…"

Alex suddenly dissolved into sobbing, letting her hair fall into her eyes and reaching down to hug him. She felt his right hand gently pat her back and his harsh intake of breath when she squeezed him too hard and quickly sat back up, putting her hand on his warm cheek and stroking it tenderly, certain that she had never dreamed of anything like this. He closed his eyes again at her touch and she saw a tear collect at the side of his eye before he hurriedly blinked it back.

"Are you in pain?"

He shook his head, but when she put her hand on his chest he sucked his breath in hard. The Lion had been mauled and it was all too obvious in the pain in his eyes.

"Gene…"

"That's my name, don't bloody wear it out, woman," Gene muttered, looking away so that she wouldn't see the pain he was feeling keenly in his expression and his stormy blue irises. Alex called through and asked a nurse for some morphine.

"This'll help," she told him as the nurse injected his arm with the morphine. It made the already drowsy Gene sleepier yet, but it took the pain away as well and meant that Alex could relay her news about his injuries and the Quattro's state to him. The car could be repaired by a decent mechanic, although it would take a while to be roadworthy again, and Alex had no qualms about footing the bill; it was Gene who would be harder to repair.

"You've got injuries to your left arm, it's not broken but it's not good either so it's in a splint for the time being, and they said your torso was crushed, so you have a couple of broken ribs from that. Your head was cut by some glass from the windscreen. Apart from that, you're OK; it's remarkable, really, the paramedics at the scene said it was a wonder you weren't killed."

"And you, Bolls?" he asked, motioning briefly to her bandaged arm. She shrugged with her opposite shoulder.

"It's fine. Just a cut and a bit of soreness, it'll be OK in a couple of days."

"How long do I have to stay here? I don't need to stay for long."

"They said about a week, Guv. You're still in a lot of pain, and they need to keep you in to check for any after-effects of your injuries and to make sure they didn't miss anything. Oh come on Gene, it's not that bad; would you rather die of internal bleeding because they missed it or spend a couple more days in hospital? I know which one I'd choose."

"Can I die here?" Gene murmured, looking up at her. She shrugged again.

"You seem pretty mortal to me," she replied, pointing to his injuries. He nodded in agreement and turned as a nurse walked in and told Alex she had to leave.

"Visiting time's over, I'm sorry madam," she said quietly, directing Alex to the door and closing the curtains around Gene's bed. Alex crept back and smiled as she saw that as soon as she had left his sight, Gene had fallen asleep, his right hand resting gently on his stomach and his head tilted to one side, looking peaceful once again, like he had been that morning. It seemed so long ago now, to Alex, that she had woken up with a hangover and a furry mouth and seen Gene Hunt asleep on the chair next to her bed, watching over her, as always, and looking more tranquil than she had ever seen him.

"I'll come back this evening, Guv," she murmured, putting her hand on his and smiling as he moved it away slightly, trying to keep up the tough man façade but not moving it again as she tucked her hand into his. She moved her head closer still to his and whispered into his ear.

"I love you, Gene. I love you, so please get better for me."

He didn't reply, but his mouth crinkled into a rare smile and she knew he had heard and liked what he had heard.

* * *

Alex collapsed through her front door and rushed through into the lounge, falling straight onto the sofa and gasping for breath as she buried her head in the cushions, trying to get the image of Gene's pain-filled eyes out of her head and instead focusing on his smile when she had told him she loved him. It had been faint, but it had been there and it had been genuine.

Alex played on the computer, something she hadn't done for years, to distract herself for the rest of the night. She figured out how to boot up the computer (she hadn't done it for a while now, so took a while to re-adjust to the technology) and started up The Sims 2 to create a little family, herself and Gene and Molly, and used the code she remembered Molly using to give them more money to move into a huge house with fancy furnishing. It seemed fake, unreal, as she did it, so instead she created her flat back in 1983 as closely as she could, and moved them in there, adding a little bedroom for Molly. She smiled as the Sim Gene turned on the TV and started cheering on the wrestling or football or whatever sport it was that was on, remembering him cheering on football tournaments back in CID, although his version of "cheering on" had actually been remarks such as "Get the ball, for God's sake, you nancy poofter!" and "You could easily have scored then, you French bloody bender!" Making a mental note to tell him that homophobia was not tolerated in 2000's Britain, Alex shut the computer down and made herself a snack.

Time seemed to pass in slow motion until Alex was calling a taxi to take her to the hospital for evening visiting time. The journey seemed to take longer than usual as well, but it wasn't as unbearable as being at home alone had been; at least she was getting closer to Gene, and that helped.

"How is he?" Alex asked a nurse as she headed in. The nurse smiled.

"Apart from being a little deprived of nicotine, he's fine. For a smoker, his lungs are remarkably stable and clean; has he only taken it up recently?"

"He's been smoking for thirty plus years," Alex replied, her eyebrows rising. The nurse looked impressed.

"You tell him he's one lucky bastard, then. The number of people who come in here with lungs clogged with filth from smoking and die because of that awful habit… it's almost beyond belief."

Alex smiled.

"There are a lot of things about Gene Hunt that are beyond belief."

With those words, she headed in to see Gene.

* * *

A/N: I hope those people who were hanging on since the last cliffhanger aren't too annoyed with me about it… and I hope you like me again for saving the Quattro... and I hope you enjoyed this as well! Thanks to my awesome beta happyeverafter72 :) Jazzola :)


	9. Chapter 9

"Bloody hell, Bolls, I can get out of a bloody taxi unaided!"

Alex withdrew her hand from the side of the taxi in which Gene was sitting, sighing at him wearily but smiling when she turned her back, thinking of how typically him he had sounded when he had said that.

She heard a hiss from behind her and saw that Gene was using the side of the taxi for his aid instead, and was sucking his breath in through his teeth at the agony it was causing him due to his broken ribs. Alex gave him a questioning look and he scowled back at her.

"I… am… fine…" he growled, pushing himself out and almost falling straight onto the pavement. The neighbours looked out with interest, one or two people wincing as Gene managed to get out.

"You alright there, sir?" the taxi driver asked, turning round with a frown on his face. Gene nodded, remembering that he couldn't use his normal retorts now in 2009 but not really caring as the driver took his money, handed over the change and drove off, backfiring at the end of the lane and leaving Gene refusing Alex's help again to get to the front door.

"Alright, walk without my help, you stupid bugger, but when we get inside you are straight onto that sofa and I will take a look at this medication," she warned him, holding up the two bottles that the hospital had given her, both marked "EUGENE HUNT". Gene narrowed his eyes at his full name and walked up the path, sitting down on the sofa as instructed (secretly, his ribs were killing him and he was glad to sit down) and waiting until Alex was in the kitchen before rummaging in his coat for his hip-flask and taking a generous swig of whisky.

"They said alcohol would mess with the medication, Gene, so put that away," Alex instructed firmly, walking back in with a glass of water instead and snatching the hip-flask from Gene's fingers.

"Bolls! Give that back!"

"No," Alex replied, a little childishly, stashing it in the cupboard above the cooker and knowing that Gene didn't know the password for the lock she'd put on it to keep Molly out of it. Gene sat back and pouted, displeasure oozing from his expression.

"That's my personal property, Bollykecks, I could have you banged up for theft of my bloody panacea!"

"I think you need to wean yourself off alcohol," Alex replied, feeling a little refreshed by the banter and sinking down next to him on the sofa. She had missed the talking and the idle chatting; for the first two or three days of his stay in hospital, Gene had talked very little and been irritable and drowsy for the few hours that he was awake. His main concerns had been the Quattro, which was undergoing restoration work in one of London's specialist Audi garages, his own health, and Alex's health.

"Nag nag nag," Gene mumbled, also behaving childishly. The truth was that Gene felt guilty about crashing with Alex in the car and wished he had been able to avoid the crash more than ever whenever he saw the sling on Alex's arm, despite knowing that he hadn't run himself off the road and that he had been the one who had been injured more out of the pair as well.

"Drink this and take the pills," Alex said firmly, placing two pills in Gene's hand and putting the glass of water on the table next to him. Gene sighed at the water, then mentally turned it into vodka (he had tried some before and although he'd had a God-almighty hangover the next morning it had been good while it lasted) and knocked the pills back, gagging slightly at their bitter taste but taking another mouthful of water to counter the taste. Alex put the pills back on their shelf and moved closer to Gene on the sofa, putting her hand on top of his.

"You feeling OK? Not dizzy or anything?"

He shook his head and gave her the bare minimum of a smile, leaning back to ease the pain in his bruised and bandaged torso. Alex stood up to go and get her pillow to make him comfortable-

The phone shattered the comfortable silence in the room, and Alex's eyes widened as she turned slowly to look at the innocently-shrilling phone on the table and then Gene on the sofa, also staring at the handset with his expression shocked and anxious, an expression rarely seen on the Manc Lion's face.

"I'll… I'll get it, Gene," Alex whispered, moving towards it, reaching out with one slightly shaky hand and picking up the call.

"Hello?"

"Survived, did we, Alexandra?" the voice asked smoothly, now showing itself clearly as male with its deep, broad tone. Gene clenched his fists and made to stand up, but the pain in his chest defeated him and he had to sit down again.

"Yes, I survived," Alex replied firmly, anger flaring in her head suddenly at this person- they were keeping her from Molly, from Evan, from her normal life, and she just wanted out and Gene and she knew she would be happy for life if she got those things. "I survived, and Gene did too."

The tone on the phone suddenly changed to anger.

"He won't for long, fool. He will be gone, as he does not belong here… he is surplus to your requirements to get home."

"But I need him anyway," Alex hissed, clutching the receiver so hard that the plastic body cracked and the sneering voice on the other end blurred and crackled for a second before the phone re-adjusted itself. Gene raised his eyebrows.

"Bloody hell, last time she clenched her fists that hard she was giving me a left hook on the jaw," he thought, but his thoughts were abruptly interrupted by the voice coming back.

"You won't be able to have him, Alexandra. You'll have to leave him behind. He's dead and you're not."

"Wait- I'm not dead?" Alex asked, sounding shocked. Gene stood up, shaking his head, but the voice soldiered on.

"You're still in a coma, Alexandra. This world is still the purgatory world, but it has moved on many years now. Gene is still here, and you are, because he's keeping you here, but you need to move on, you want to go home, and you can- with my help, and without Gene."

"No."

Alex's voice was firm. The voice chuckled, amused.

"I am not giving in to your stupid little plan, whoever you are," Alex hissed as the chuckle ended. "I am staying here with Gene if I can't go back with him. I know Molly wants me back but she can cope, she's strong, it's the way of the world. I hate you! Why would I comply with you? You tried to kill me and Gene- I don't want to become your accomplice or your friend, because Gene is my friend and we are not giving in to you, because he is the Manc Lion and I am his Bolly and we are strong united, always will be, and weak divided. So you can sod off and if this isn't the real world we will find our way back together. Got it?"

The voice simply laughed.

"Young and suicidal, thinking she knows best. You are in for a horrible shock, Alexandra. Watch this space."

With a click, the receiver went silent. Alex put it down, her heart pounding. Gene felt a little awkward, but sensed that she needed a hug and so gave her one. She melted into his embrace, needing the contact more than ever, refusing to let go and snuggling into his chest, resting her head on his shoulder. Gene put his chin on top of her head and breathed softly onto the crown of her head, his hands slowly rubbing her back, her hands holding him as close as possible without hurting his injured ribs.

"Gene…" she whispered, and he responded gently by pressing his lips to her forehead and stroking her hair as she sobbed, now crying into his chest and lying on top of him. Gene banished the instinctive thoughts that came into his head from Alex's warm body being on top of his and concentrated instead on comforting her.

"Ssh, Bolly, I know," he whispered, caressing her soft skin and letting her sob onto his chest until she fell asleep curled on top of him, her hands clutching his shirt possessively and her head resting comfortably on the crook of his neck. Gene leaned back as well and closed his eyes…

* * *

"_He's got a decent pulse, his vital signs are there, it's just the severe trauma to the head that's the problem. When he wakes up he could be a completely different person. I have to warn you now that his personality might be changed, his memories might be erased, he might have become someone new and you will have lost the Mr Hunt you know."_

"_The Guv won't leave us," Ray's voice said confidently, although a little tremor found its way in. Gene first snarled mentally at him for being a fairy, and then took in what he had said and felt grateful instead._

"_We don't know what the full effects will be, but cross your fingers because the trauma was certainly befitting for someone nicknamed the Manc Lion."_

_The person left and Gene managed to open his eyes a fraction, making out the red bonnet that somehow seemed like something familiar, riddled with strange holes and covered in a thin film of dirt and muck from the streets. It seemed like something he knew and loved, if that was possible for him (well, why not, he loved Bolly deep down), but he couldn't properly place it, as he couldn't place the face that suddenly leaned over his and stared into his eyes._

"_Guv? Guv, can yer 'ear me?"_

_Gene would have replied had he not been completely unable to. Instead he simply focused on the face, rugged, with a curly brown perm, and tried to recognise him, trying until it felt like his head would burst, but it didn't work and he began to slide back into unconsciousness…_

"_No, Guv- Guv, stay wi' me! Gene, stay wi' me!"_

_Gene was just able to remember that it was highly unusual for this person to call him Gene before he was swallowed by darkness and could remember no more._

* * *

"Gene? Gene?"

A different voice to the curly-haired man's… Gene opened his eyes and looked up blearily. Alex was standing over him, his hip-flask in one hand and a glass of wine in the other.

"You can have one swig," she told him, handing the flask over. Gene gave what might have been a smile had Alex not been watching, took the hip-flask and knocked the whisky inside back heartily, closing his eyes to hide the look of confusion and the attempt at remembrance from Alex.

It was something he wanted to keep to himself.

* * *

A/N: I hope people can forgive me for the long delay. Exams are so annoying… anyhow, hope you enjoyed it, please review! Jazzola :)


	10. Chapter 10

Alex knew that Gene was hiding something from her the second he had woken up from his sleep and focused his eyes on hers, due to the evasive body language he had shown and his unwillingness to meet her eyes afterwards. It wasn't unlike Gene to hide things from her- he had hidden a lot about his life, Sam, and his relationship with his ex-wife- but this was something different, and since she knew all about him and his existence now she knew it was something new, something that she had yet to learn about- or maybe not?

After a while, Alex began to wonder if maybe this was something she had experienced and he was now going through, since they had effectively done a role-reversal and Alex was now the guide and Gene the follower. Although, that said, Gene wasn't doing too badly in 2009, considering he'd gone straight from 1983 to there; Alex had taught him about computers in the month that had passed since the accident, and about modern policing and procedures. He was taking it in his stride, being surprisingly intelligent (Alex would never have thought such a big brain resided in that nicotine-stained head), but whatever was bugging him was having a visual effect and impairing him from having his full attention on the task in hand, learning.

It took a while for Alex to get him suitably drunk for mentioning it, but eventually Gene was lying on the sofa with Alex next to him, whisky-sodden, and Alex gauged that the time was ripe for her question.

"Gene…"

"Wha'?" Gene slurred, concentrating on speaking clearly enough for her to understand. Alex put her hand on his forehead and waited until his eyes had focused on her face to ask.

"What's going on? What are you hiding from me?"

Gene closed his eyes again, wondering if he was suitably inebriated to tell her, and wondering if he would be able to stop himself from becoming emotional if he did tell her.

"Nothin', Bolls. It's fine."

"That's not true, is it, Guv?" Alex asked quietly. He shook his head, giving in to her puppy-dog porcelain eyes.

"OK. Fine. You know I said I was in hospital? In 1983? Somethin' about a trauma in me 'ead."

Alex nodded, waiting for him to go on.

"Well… there were people there, Bolls. I dunno who they were, an' I'm tryin' to remember, but I can't place 'em. There's Shaz, I know 'er, but there was this man in the more recent one, the second one, and 'e- I didn't remember 'im. I couldn't even say 'is name."

Alex frowned.

"It sounds like… like me with Molly. I kept forgetting her name, not being able to see her face, and then I'd remember. Who did you see, what did he look like?"

"Curly brown 'air, moustache, blue eyes."

"Ray. Ray Carling. Your DI?"

"Ray… now I remember," Gene muttered as it came back to him. Of course it was Ray… of course it was. It was the man Gene had had drinking contests with, fought with, yelled at, talked with, ordered around and demanded the respect of, but at the same time forged a- you couldn't really call it friendship, but it was more than a working relationship- with. How could he have forgotten Ray? He could hardly believe it… but then again, Alex had forgotten her own daughter, and Ray was the closest thing he had had to family for a long time. His ex-wife's face was blurred to him now, but he hadn't seen her for years, it was hardly surprising.

"You have to remember, Gene. You know what happens if you forget- there's just more and more pain to put up with when you remember, when you find out the truth again. Don't put yourself through that, Gene. Please don't do that."

His eyes focused clearly on hers, and for a moment she saw the pain of the internal struggle, the confusion, the fear- and then it was masked, the lion's mane covering it as he ducked his head and pretended to become very interested in the inner workings of the TV remote. Alex snatched it back off him, not wanting to have to re-adjust it again; it was the difficult one, she had marked it with a biro to make sure Molly knew not to take it apart.

"You promise me you'll remember, and you'll ask me if you see someone in these visions and you can't remember them so I can jog your memory?"

Gene relented, nodding. It wouldn't do him any favours to forget, and this was complicated enough as it was.

"Thank you, Gene," Alex whispered, her face inches away from his and begging him to lean forwards. Even though they were both drunk, Alex was serious; at that moment in time she wanted nothing more than his lips on hers, as if to seal the agreement they had made.

Gene smiled to himself as his DI's face changed from seriousness to pleading, him knowing instantly what she wanted. He closed the space between them, pressing his lips to hers, hesitantly at first, and then hungrily, as if he was drowning and she was his oxygen, feeling her returning it and closing his eyes in bliss as his stout heart stuttered…

Alex gradually drew away and smiled, wiping a smudge of lipstick from Gene's mouth and taking in his expression.

"You know, maybe that stuff about you being a legendary lover isn't bullshit after all."

"Cheeky mare," Gene muttered, but his mouth betrayed him for the first time in years (_traitor_, Gene thought, _I give you the best kiss you've ever had and now you show me up!_) and broadened into a smile. Alex laughed at him and let her tingling fingers explore his shirt front, gently undoing the buttons at the throat and sliding down warm, bare skin, feeling soft dark hairs with the odd blond one in their midst and his rapidly beating heart under her hand.

"It's still beating," she murmured, her own face a smile. Gene grinned and put his own hand up to press gently against her chest, becoming a gentleman suddenly and cursing himself internally for it. Somehow, grabbing her breast hadn't seemed appropriate.

"Well then Bollinger Knickers, you gonna kiss me or punch me?"

Alex grinned as well, her eyes shining.

_How would I ever survive without Gene? Whoever you are, person who is keeping me here and away from everything I know and especially my Molly, you better let him come home with me, or I will kill you._

"I suppose the answer to that would have to be I'll kiss you… but then again…"

Playfully, she punched his cheek, and he pretended to look irritated and flicked her ear in retribution.

"Ow," Alex laughed, putting her finger up to it and expecting to feel her earring there. It was missing.

"Gene…"

He was holding it up, laughing at her, the rare laughter that was normally reserved for when he was on his own, remembering the day and able to show his emotions. Alex's heart softened and she leaned down to kiss him again, the smile still in place.

"Give me that," Alex whispered as he returned the kiss, his warm, dry lips fitting hers perfectly. Gene handed it over, sighing.

"I could've got another kiss out of that."

"You could've _gotten _another kiss out of it," Alex corrected. Gene studied her face intently.

"So can I 'ave it back, then?"

Alex resisted the urge to simply give it to him and fastened it back, a smile gracing her face once again.

"No. Come on, you're probably hungry, and we have an appointment at the hospital to keep."

Gene sighed and let Alex get up and go through to the kitchen to get some food ready. She was surprised when he joined her and shoved the oven chips into a pan for her, putting them in the oven and turning it to the right temperature for them.

"You have been learning," Alex said in surprise, taking them out later. Gene looked up from the sofa and nodded.

"I'm gonna 'ave to live on me own a' some point, Bolls, so I'd better learn or I'll be livin' on a diet of whisky an' Garibaldis for the rest o' my life. Tha' said, tha' wouldn' be such a bad life."

"You're not going anywhere, Gene Hunt," Alex said firmly, her hand on his arm and her eyes boring into his. "You're staying with me, because there is no way on earth I am going to lose you."

It was the first time she had said anything like that to him, and Gene felt his stomach writhing a little at her words. Did she need him? Or was she just doing this because she felt it was her duty?

Something told him that it was the first option.

* * *

"You ready?" Alex called through to the lounge as she grabbed the Quattro keys, leaving the long-forgotten keys to her own Renault on the counter. "The hospital appointment is in half an hour, and if we're late I'll have your knackers in a vice, Guv."

"Comin', comin'…"

Gene stood up, making to walk through, tugging on his boots and grabbing his coat as he got off the sofa and made for the door…

Lights popped. The room spun. Gene's strong legs gave way under him and, without a single second's warning, he collapsed, hitting the floor with a thud as Alex shrieked, seemingly from miles away.

* * *

A/N: Lovely cliffhanger for you to enjoy ;) Sorry for the long delay, exams and revision and German homework and my lovely uncle irritating me takes up a lot of time… as well as that I seem to have developed an addiction to The Sims 3 :P Ah well, it's up now. Enjoy, there will be more soon! Jazzola :)


	11. Chapter 11

"_He's waking up… he's coming back!"_

Gene tried in vain to open his eyes, to see what was happening. Panic was settling into his stomach, turning it upside-down inside him, and his head ached for some reason that he couldn't fathom, not a normal headache, a real "I've-been-clubbed-on-the-head-with-a-baseball-bat" headache.

_Severe trauma to the head _came back to him as he thought this, and his brain, ever quick despite all the times Alex had called him stupid or an idiot, began to work it out.

_I'm not… am I?_

Gene's eyes finally opened and began taking in a hospital ward. Not out of the usual, perhaps, he had been travelling to a hospital…

But this was a hospital ward a la the 1980's.

Gene gave a strangled gasp and tried to sit up, urgency coursing through his veins and quickening his breathing. A hand gently pushed him back, and Gene found himself staring into familiar blue eyes, staring at him with mingled relief and awe and concern, although the latter was hidden behind the sky-coloured irises. Gene, having a lot of experience at doing the same thing, easily stripped away the cover.

"Guv? You need to stay lyin' down, Guv, the nurses said so."

Ray Carling calmly lowered his DCI back onto the pillows and turned towards the doorway.

"Are you divs comin' in or not?"

"Yeah, we are," a familiar Essex voice said, and two more people walked in, followed by someone who Gene had thought he would never see again, on whose arm hung someone else he had thought was safely on the other side.

Chris, Shaz, Sam and Annie all walked in at Ray's words, sitting down next to the bed and watching as Ray carefully helped Gene sit up to face them properly. Gene was weak and knew it, but still resented Ray helping him and taking away his independence- heck, it had been him helping Ray and the rest for God knows how many years, he didn't want a role reversal now.

Then it struck him- there was one person missing.

"Where's- where's Bolly? Alex?"

The team looked round at each other, confused or uncertain looks rife between them.

"One of you answer me!" Gene gasped, real panic now infused in his gut and rushing through his mind. Chris and Ray looked at each other. Shaz simply stared at the floor.

"Who's Bolly?" Sam and Annie asked in unison. Shaz looked up at Gene, meeting his eyes, her dark chocolate into his vivid blue.

"Alex went through, Guv. That's what Nelson said. She'll go home. You were meant to go with her, but you got pulled back."

_NO! _Gene screamed internally, but he kept his temper back, with an effort. His team had had enough of that when they had worked for him, they didn't deserve it now they had entered the Railway Arms.

That brought a fresh thought into his mind.

"What are you lot doin' 'ere? You're meant to be in the pub!"

"Nelson let us out when 'e 'eard you'd been attacked," Ray said, chewing a piece of gum as he spoke. The familiar sight and sound made Gene close his eyes for a second, reliving Fenchurch East CID and the years he had spent in it. "'E said you deserved to 'ave your team one more time."

Shaz smiled as Ray said it, leaning forwards and putting her hand on Gene's arm. Her fingers were surprisingly warm, either that or Gene was freezing.

"You really want 'er back, don't you, Guv? Ma'am."

There was no point pretending; the Manc Lion knew he needed his lioness, and he was needed by her. He nodded slowly.

"She needs me," Gene murmured, almost to himself, his voice rough after lack of use. "She needs me to 'elp 'er get back to 'er daughter… she said she wouldn' do it withou' me."

Shaz nodded, bowing her head.

"Well, Guv," Chris said, speaking for the first time, "you 'ave a choice. Come with us to the Railway Arms and stay there until it's 'er time, or…"

"Or what?" Gene asked eagerly, leaning forwards. Ray sighed and pushed him back.

"Guv, they'll 'ave our knackers in vices if you keep leanin' forwards, you're meant to be lyin' down. We don't want to leave before you know wha' the choice is."

Gene ignored him and focused on Chris, who was opening and shutting his mouth wordlessly, looking like a particularly gormless goldfish out of water.

"Spit it out, Skelton."

"You kill yerself, Guv. You destroy this version of yerself and go back to 'er in whatever state yer in there. We'd never see yer again until yer made yer way ter the Railway Arms in yer own time, but yeh'd be with Boss- Ma'am."

Gene drew in his breath sharply, his eyes wandering towards the corner of the room. In it hung a spider, quickly wrapping an unfortunate bluebottle in silky web while the bug screeched and buzzed, trying to resist the spindly legs now trapping it tightly. Gene shuddered, not for the reason that he disliked spiders, but for the reason that he felt the same way as the bluebottle, trapped between two things, neither of which appealed to him at this moment in time.

"Guv?" Sam asked quietly, his arm round Annie's shoulders and his hand playing with the tassels on her Western-style coat, one Gene hadn't seen before and assumed she had bought in the pub. "What d'you want to do?"

Gene looked back and made eye contact with his team, his body now changed, purposefulness infused into his stance and his eyes alert.

"I need to get back to Bolly. So I'll go for killin' meself. I'm sorry, but it's wha' I 'ave to do."

The people assembled around the bed nodded, understanding in their eyes.

"We'll see you again one day, Guv," Ray said, standing up and reaching behind him to pull a gun out from under his coat. Gene would have smiled, had nobody been looking, as he took in the sight of the familiar gun in Ray's hand; it was the same gun he had been using for years.

"First we 'ave to get you out o' 'ere, Guv, or we'll never get back to the Railway Arms. An' for that we need a doctor on our side. So we'll go an' flash our badges at a couple an' get a car ready to take you somewhere secluded to… to do it."

Ray stumbled over the last couple of words. This was his Guv, his role model, the man he'd admired for years, and he was happily killing himself to be with the woman he seemed to love. Gene's face changed as though he was going to snarl at Ray for being a poof, but instead it morphed into an expression of almost thankfulness.

"Well, are your badges going to si' around all day in your pockets or are they goin' to get me out o' 'ere?"

Ray nodded and turned to go and find the doctor in charge of Gene's care, hating himself inside. Every step he was taking was another step towards the destruction of the Manc Lion.

"Doctor Carlton? I need a word."

* * *

Alex couldn't believe it. Just a couple of hours ago she had been herself, happy and warm, laughing with Gene at a programme on the TV, making breakfast and reminding him not to be late for their appointment at the hospital, stroking the picture of Molly on the window-sill and telling Gene some random story about herself and Molly as they ate beans on toast, grabbing the keys to the much-loved and much-abused Quattro and ready to get out of the door to go to the appointment… and then he had collapsed and taken her world with him.

To all intents and purposes, Gene Hunt was dead.

His brain showed minimal activity, and that little activity was slowing and becoming less and less. His heart stuttered if he was taken off life support. He couldn't breathe on his own. He didn't react to her touch. Electrical shocks had achieved nothing. He was totally gone.

Alex allowed the tears to fall as she watched the heart monitor register his pulse weakening, and pressed her hand to his chest as she had done all those years ago to feel it for herself, thinking she was in a coma and this was all a dream. The difference was obvious; there was hardly anything there.

"Gene, you need to come back to me," she whispered to him, allowing tears to fall onto his face, the rugged, weathered Northern skin that she knew like the back of her hand. He didn't flinch, but a small smile seemed to flash over his face and she gasped.

"Gene…?"

But nothing more came, and Alex sighed, lying back in the chair and leaning her head against the wall, her hand tucked in his and her eyes slowly closing, her own brain sliding into sleep…

"_Alex? Bolly?"_

"_Gene!" she shrieked, running towards him and pulling him into a huge hug. He returned it, and then held her out at arm's length, his eyes serious, boring into hers with an urgency she had only ever seen before in situations where they might have lost their lives. That said, this was one of those situations._

"_Listen, Bolls. What happened was that I wen' back to 1983, with the others. Sam an' Annie even turned up. I 'ave to kill myself there to get back to you."_

"_Kill yourself? And you'd… you'd do that… for me?"_

"_Course I would, you dozy mare. Just don't le' 'em turn me off. I know I'm on life support, I would 'ave to be to stay alive. If they say I'm dead, don't le' 'em kill me, OK? I will come back. I'm jus' waitin' for Raymondo to turn up with a car to take me out o' 'ere."_

"_Where are you?"_

"_Hospital. I 'aven't got long. Jus' don't le' 'em kill me. Keep me alive at all costs, OK?"_

"_I will," Alex promised, clinging to him, feeling his warmth, his rough skin and his attachment to her. They knew each other better than anyone else in the world and they knew that they were unbreakable in that moment, when their eyes made contact and Alex reached up to kiss him passionately…_

_And then he was gone, vanished, and all that was left was the feel of his lips on hers._

_Smiling, and deciding that all was not lost after all, Alex turned and began to wake herself up. She had no idea how she was doing it, but it was easy._

"Ma'am? Alex?"

Alex looked up. A nurse was standing over her, her eyes creased in concern.

"I'm fine," Alex replied, smiling at the young woman and sitting up. "Just… don't turn him off. Keep him alive."

The nurse looked down at Gene.

"His chances are slim…"

"Trust me," Alex replied, her eyes alight and her mouth curved in triumph. "He will wake up."

* * *

A/N: There we go, another chapter for you lucky people ;) Chocolate biscuits for everyone who reviews, since I'm in a good mood (I go to Cyprus in a month!). Thanks to all reviewers and happyeverafter72, my beta! Jazzola :)


	12. Chapter 12

The plod car was not elegant, or well-engineered, or hardy, nor did it have any of the splendour of Gene's beloved Quattro, but it was the car that was driving him to his destruction as he neared the secluded spot the CID gang had chosen for him to die in, the graveyard where Viv had been buried and he had spent hours after the funeral before returning to CID, mourning, murmuring his apologies, not even managing to stop short of tears. Gene took a sharp breath in as he remembered that day, the hot tears pouring down his cheeks a sharp contrast to the cool air and the iciness that he was feeling inside, the icicle that he would call his heart lodged uncomfortably between the stomach that could barely hold its contents as he crouched alone on the dew-laden grass, allowing the odd sob to escape from his chapped lips but holding himself in as he had always done for most of the time. What would his team have said, had they seen their Guv, crouched forlornly in front of the fresh grave, his hands resting on his face, trying to hide the tears that splashed from his sorrow-ridden eyes? The Manc Lion didn't cry. But he did feel sorrow and grief, and they knew that.

"We're 'ere, Guv," Ray said quietly as they drew up outside the graveyard entrance. Gene swallowed hard, one reason for that being that his throat was roughened with the sleep he had managed to get in the back of the car, the other being what he had to do now that they had arrived, which didn't go unnoticed by the people watching him, and nodded, which aggravated his throbbing head. He bit back his groan of pain and slid out of the car, the gun pressing against his waist coldly, a stark reminder of what he had to do.

"You can turn back now if you want," Annie said quietly as she closed the door, her eyes fixed on Gene's. He shook his head slightly, catching her eye and letting her see the determination behind his stormy blue irises, and began striding towards the clearing Ray and Chris and Shaz were heading to, secluded and private, the ideal place. Sam and Annie followed closely behind, and the sound of their feet against the brittle leaves on the floor was reassuring and terrifying at the same time. The gun knocked against his leg as he walked, and his resolve almost broke at the feel of the cold, unforgiving barrel on his warm, alive skin.

"C'mon, Guv, ge' i' over with," Chris said as Gene took the gun out and pushed the bullet in. _My thoughts exactly, Wonder Chris, _Gene thought as Chris positioned himself behind him with Ray, ready to catch Gene after the shot. Sam and Annie moved forwards as well, Sam looking Gene in the eyes as he took Annie's hand and spoke in a low voice.

"I know what it's like, Guv. I killed myself to get back to this place, I threw myself off the top of a building. It's not pleasant, but you just have to pull that trigger and you're back to Alex." He paused. "Alex Drake, by any chance?"

Gene nodded, wondering where this was going. Sam's eyes widened and he gave a chuckle.

"Alex Drake. I knew her in 2006," he explained, seeing the look on Gene's face. "She was collecting data from colleagues who had been through traumas like mine. I sent her a tape of me talking about being here, in this world, and she was going to write a book about it. I don't know if she ever did or if she had her accident before she managed to write it, but she might have done."

Gene managed a smile.

"You go back to her, Guv," Sam said softly. "Just pull the trigger and you'll be with her. What did you always say to me? "The Gene Genie goes where he's needed." Well, Alex needs you. So go to her."

Ray positioned himself more carefully as Gene held the pistol he knew so well to his own temple, and his finger found the trigger as he did so. He closed his eyes, not wanting the team to have to do that for him on his corpse, and took this body's last breath.

The explosive sound echoed round the clearing as Gene fell limply into the waiting arms of his five colleagues, blood trickling down his forehead and pooling in the shell of his ear, the gun dropping from his limp fingers and thumping onto the grass, the blunt sound a reminder of the act just committed by the gun's former owner.

The group gently laid their DCI's corpse onto the grass and stood back, taking in the vacant, almost peaceful expression on his face, the bloody, glistening wound on his temple, his limp body. Ray cleared his throat gruffly and turned away, not wanting the others to see the look in his eyes. Secretly he had been hoping that maybe Gene would follow them to the Railway Arms, but no, he had to go, the man Ray had admired and modelled himself on had left him and vanished.

"He'll be there one day," he reminded himself silently, turning back as Sam picked up a spade and passed another to Chris. Together they began digging, just to the side of Gene's body, giving him space and respecting him somehow just by keeping that little distance away from him. Annie, Shaz and Ray stood and watched, eyes flicking between the grave and Gene's limp form, all silent.

"Shouldn' 'e 'ave an 'eadstone or somethin'?" Ray asked after a while. Sam paused, flicking a little hair out of his eyes (Annie had wanted him to grow it out), thinking over Ray's suggestion.

"We'll get that sorted tomorrow. For now we just bury him."

Ray acknowledged the decision with a nod and bent down to pick up Gene's upper body as Chris stood back from the finished grave, assessing the size and deciding it was big enough. Gene had lost much of his characteristic beer belly in hospital, since he had been on a drip.

"Everyone ge' an 'old on 'im."

Annie and Shaz moved forwards as one, each taking a leg, and Chris gripped the opposite shoulder to Ray as Sam put a hand under Gene's head, not wanting it to loll as he was placed in his final resting place in this world, wanting the lowering of his cooling body to be a dignified matter, something Gene would be approving of if he was looking on.

"One… two… three…"

Gently, the group bent as one and placed Gene gently into the grave, arranging his body so that he was lying in a casually spread position, his legs crossed at the ankles, hands resting on his stomach, head slightly propped up on a ridge of earth deliberately left at the bottom of the grave. Standing back, the ex-police officers nodded at each other and began shifting the earth back into the grave, sticking a spade where the headstone would be so they knew where to place it when they came back. Annie gave a little sob as the ugly sound of earth on flesh echoed round the clearing and Chris wiped over his face with his dirty sleeve as he carried on working, burying Gene with all the dignity he deserved, knowing Gene would rather it was his own team than some faceless, nameless people he had never known.

Their work done eventually, the group looked round at each other, and quietly retreated as one, back to the sanctuary of the pub and their own thoughts.

* * *

Jolted from a quick doze by something sounding next to her, Alex opened her eyes, expecting someone to be walking past her to someone else in the ward or for it to be a nurse checking something on Gene's life support. Her bleary eyes noted movement at the door, and she lay back again, thinking that was it, trying to go back to sleep in the hope that she would see Gene again, whether in her dreams or for real.

"Sleeping well, Bolls?" said a familiar voice.

Reluctant to open her eyes, Alex simply remained as she was.

"Oi, Bollinger-Knickers, I'm righ' next t' you and I've jus' made a miraculous bloody recovery, the leas' you could do is open your eyes."

Alex started, her eyes flying open. Gene was watching her from the bed, the ventilator lying next to him, having been eased from his throat a second before. The marks from the plasters holding it in place were still visible on his cheeks and mouth, and a light dusting of stubble made him look rugged and rough, and the tubes still attached to his body gave an extra impression of illness, but his eyes were bright and fixed on hers.

"GENE!" Alex shrieked, her face turning into one huge smile, and she threw herself forwards and hugged him, pulling him as close as she possibly could, pressing her lips to his and running her hands through his hair, almost unable to believe that he had come back and brought her world with him. Gene managed to fend her off slightly, half-laughing, half-gasping.

"Careful, Bolls, I'm no' bloody Iron Man, I'm still sore!"

"Sorry," Alex whispered, the smile still plastered onto her face, pressing her lips to his again. He responded fervently, sliding his tongue into her mouth and beginning to caress her tongue, drawing a moan of pleasure from her.

"Mmm…" she murmured into his mouth, wondering how, even after two days of being unconscious and having a plastic ventilator tube in his mouth, he could taste so delicious. Gene smiled against her lips, his hands bringing her closer, gentle and eager at the same time.

"Mr Hunt!"

Gene broke off mid-kiss, turning as a doctor hurried over and took in the scene, his own face stretched into a relieved and wonder-filled smile, hardly able to take in what he was seeing.

"Welcome back!"

Gene grinned, the first genuine grin Alex had seen from him in what felt like such a long time now, and proffered his wrist to the doctor so that he could take a drip out from it, wincing as the metal slid out of his flesh. Alex slid up to sit on the bed next to him, a smile still adorning her face, but vanishing as she suddenly recalled Gene's words to her when she had seen him in her sleep.

"Gene… did you… did you kill yourself?"

He nodded.

"I told you I 'ad to kill meself to ge' back to you, an' I did. Raymondo flashed 'is badge at some doctors after I woke up, an' 'e go' a plod car to take me to the graveyard where Viv's buried. Fell asleep in the car, tha' was when I talked to you. Then we go' there an' Ray gave me my gun, I shot meself in the 'ead. My temple." His finger pinpointed the site for Alex's eyes, and she winced at the thought, the sound of herself being shot seeming to reverberate in her ears. "They were le' ou' o' the Railway Arms when Nelson 'eard I was in 'ospital. They'll 'ave gone back now, I 'ope. They said they would."

"Then they will have, they keep their promises to their Guv," Alex said quietly. Gene nodded his agreement.

"Wha' was 'appening 'ere? Did anyone call you?"

Alex shook her head.

"Nothing's happened, it was just you lying in that hospital and me sitting here day and night waiting for you to wake up. I'm so glad you're back… I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come back."

Gene caressed her hair gently, reading the emotions in her eyes.

"Ssh, Alex, sweetheart, I'm here now." Inside he wondered how long it had been since he had called anyone "sweetheart".

He loved the casual intimacy. He loved the funny stories and late nights that he had with Alex Drake. And, as she gently tidied his hair and tucked her hand into his, he knew that he loved her.

* * *

"Are you coming?"

Gene jogged up towards the exit of the hospital, having loitered a while looking at the chocolate bars and finally selected a KitKat Chunky, wondering what it would be like. They certainly hadn't been around in 1983.

"Comin', comin'. Sorry, Bolls."

Alex smiled at him and jangled his keys in front of his eyes, snatching them away as he tried to grab at them.

"Uh uh. I'm driving, you're still high on medication."

Gene grumbled, but accepted the sense in her words and followed her out of the hospital.

"I parked over here," Alex told him, leading him towards the east parking bay, past a little outcrop of the hospital.

Alex didn't even have time to scream before a hand clapped itself and a handkerchief smelling of evil, bitter chemicals over her mouth and she slipped into unconsciousness, Gene sinking down next to her, his faint groan the last thing she heard before her world was blackness and blankness.

* * *

A/N: Am I cruel or what? XD Sorry, guys! More to come soon, I hope. Jazzola :)


	13. Chapter 13

_Darkness… blankness… I can hear voices, but I can't tell where they're coming from…I can feel Gene's body against mine but only just, and ropes on my hands and feet accompanying a blindfold and gag… What's happening?_

Alex struggled to open her eyes, shockwaves running through her body as she remembered what had happened. She was lying next to Gene on the floor of what looked like an empty warehouse, with metal shelves surrounding them and someone talking nearby on their mobile. The voice was the one from the phone calls, and Alex's stomach squeezed as she realised that the man who had tried to kill her and Gene now had both of them at her mercy.

Shifting as much as she dared, Alex found Gene's eyes, which were half-open and slightly blurred; Alex wasn't sure whether it was due to tears from her eyes or his. He caught to her gaze and gave her half a smile, which was mostly hidden by the gag on his face, trying to be brave for the both of them and shifting his bound hands to meet hers. Alex gripped his fingers as hard as she could, taking solace in the calming effect of his stormy blue eyes, so familiar and so warm as they delved into her eyes and this time held back no emotions.

"Damn you!" the voice shouted into his phone, and both Gene and Alex jumped and looked round, watching as the person threw his phone onto the floor and smashed it. Alex gave a little whimper that wasn't lost on Gene, as he tightened his grip on her hand and rubbed his thumb over her smooth skin.

"Fucking shit!"

Alex gave a barely-stifled giggle at the words, as they seemed so inappropriate and misplaced after his earlier explosion. The man spun round and fixed his gaze on Gene and Alex, a grin growing on his sallow features.

"Ah hah…"

He walked slowly towards the pair, and Gene squeezed Alex's hand hard and then channelled all his energy into trying to get free. The man walked forwards and grabbed the rope around Gene's arms, pulling him up and ignoring his gasp of pain.

"You are nothing but a nuisance," he hissed in Gene's ear. "You don't belong here, Gene Hunt. You should have crossed over yourself, but no, you had to stay here and make even more trouble for me and my comrades. The number of times we wished you destroyed, your soul thrown into oblivion for defying all the rules of life- all I want is to do the job I should have done years and years ago…"

Gene's eyes found those of the man, and he gasped as the sound of a shotgun firing rushed through his head, echoing in his ears, cold and cruel and deadly. Alex bit back a yelp of horror- this was Gene's killer, the man who had destroyed the Gene Genie all those years back and was now going to kill him here, and in all probability her as well.

"You'll have to get through me first!" she yelled through the gag, but all that came out was "mmm-mm mm-mmmh!" The man laughed cruelly and fixed his gaze on Alex instead, his dark brown and somehow familiar eyes boring into hers and lit with a strange fire.

"You may recognise me, Alex, and you may have forgotten. That's what happens when you're in a world that's not your own, you forget. Forget everything… even the faces of those you love and have had to leave behind," he added, his voice cruel, the tone cutting into Alex harshly. Alex gave a whimper and struggled with the gag, managing to shift it off most of her mouth.

"STOP IT!" she shrieked, tears now flowing down her face and her vision blurred so much that the only thing she could make out in the room was Gene's eyes, bright and fixed on hers, filled with sympathy and trying to calm her. Blood banged in her ears as she writhed against her bonds, fighting to free herself from both the rope and the diabolic man across the room.

"It hurts, doesn't it, Alex, forgetting?" the man asked softly, his voice now dangerous and cruel, leaning down to hiss in her ear, his breath hot and musky on her cheek. Gene kicked back and managed to overbalance the man, who fell slightly but not enough to actually fall over.

"I've had ENOUGH of your interfering!" he roared, standing up, reaching for his pocket and yanking out a gun. Alex screamed, desperation surging through her, and her squirming foot caught the man's stomach; he doubled up, wheezing, and Gene fought his way out of his bonds and punched the man until he was lying on the floor himself, the gun now in Gene's hands and no longer cocked.

"Gene…" Alex sobbed, holding out her bound hands. Gene first catered to the man who had terrorised her so much, binding his body with the ropes he had used to tie Gene up, and then turned to Alex and gently untied her wrists and ankles. Unable to stop crying, Alex hoisted herself up and clung to Gene as she took in the now feeble human being lying on the floor in front of her, tied up and coughing, retching occasionally. The gasps sounded familiar; was this someone Alex had known at some point?

"I won' kill 'im ye', I wan' some answers from 'im first."

Alex nodded her understanding and caught her breath, wiping her hand over her face, as Gene bent down and addressed the man in front of him, feeble and defeated.

"Now then, tosser, you wanna answer some o' my questions, keep you alive a bi' longer before I shoo' you?"

The man laughed, his fists unclenching.

"Like you shot Alex, Hunt? Like you shot hundreds of crooks, hundreds of people trying to make a living, like you shot the man who trained you and made you what you are today? What a pathetic job he did. All he did was create a monster, a _murderer_, Hunt. He should be ashamed of himself!"

The wind was forced out of the man's lungs by Gene's boot connecting with his stomach, driving the steel-tipped toe into the soft flesh and winding him harshly and abruptly. Alex stood by, holding her hand out as Gene passed the gun to her.

"Why are you tryin' to stop me an' Alex, an' who are you?"

"You won't know me," the man hissed, his eyes narrowed in pain and hatred, the poison evident in his dark irises. Looking into them, Alex could feel a shiver of recognition flowing down her back and shuddered inexplicably, not sure what to feel but somehow hating those eyes, almost as if she had seen them on the face of a villain in a dream, or the dream of a dream. Unable to shake the feeling off, she eyed the man with hatred obvious in her own eyes, instead focusing on what he had now done to them and what he had planned to do.

"I'm trying to stop you because I hate you, Hunt. You don't deserve a happy ever after, you or your cow of a DI-"

He was cut off at this point by another kick, but this time to the gonads. Alex winced, but inside she felt warmed by Gene's protectiveness, even if some of the time he just used it as an excuse to kick the shit out of someone he didn't like.

"Aiee…"

The unfortunate man curled up on the floor, his hands travelling to his crotch and grasping at it desperately, his face screwed up in agony. Gene watched with some satisfaction.

"Oh, 'ow the migh'y 'ave fallen, eh, bastard?" he grinned, relieved to hear Alex's snort behind him.

"I'll be saying the same to you soon, Hunt," the man whispered, managing a grin through his pain. Gene crouched down on his haunches, looking into the dark brown eyes, like Alex certain he knew them but unable to place them.

"Name?"

The man bared his long, decidedly pointed teeth. With a shiver, Alex noticed that his canine teeth were about twice as long as the rest of his teeth.

"You would be so surprised."

"Try me," Gene replied in a soft, dangerous voice, his whole body stiffening, a sign Alex had long since learned told he was ready for a fight.

"Nathaniel Plowman."

Gene and Alex exchanged glances.

"You 'eard of 'im?" Gene asked, his eyebrows drawing together, a look of confusion on his rugged face. Alex shook her head, her own eyebrows raised.

"Never, sorry, Guv."

"He's not your Guv," Nathaniel hissed, clenching his fists again, rage clear on his face as Gene feigned shock and Alex bit back a laugh, settling instead for a grin. "He's just a spoilt little child playing in his sandpit, a boy in a man's uniform! How can you trust him, Alex? He shot you, he deceived you, he didn't tell you the truth when you needed to get back to your little girl! How can you love him, after all he's done to you?"

Gene's face now showed real shock. Alex walked forwards and held the gun to Nathaniel's temple, grinning as he flinched away from the cold metal, which sizzled slightly as it made contact with his skin. Gene's eyes narrowed at it, but Alex didn't even notice, her anger taking up her mind and throwing her normal observant side out of the window.

"You know what I think, _Nathaniel?_" Alex hissed, her eyes fixed on his, both sets filled with loathing and fire. "I think you're the coward, the fantasist, trying to ruin a relationship, trying to become what you accuse Gene of being with such vehemence, and you've failed and so you're trying to turn me against Gene at the last moment, before we hand you over to the police and you never see the light of day again. We can get you sent down for attempted murder times two, dangerous driving, and, I would think, we would also lose you your job as a _Detective Chief Inspector_, am I right?"

Nathaniel grinned. Gene turned and gave Alex a look of complete bewilderment.

"You know somethin' I don', Bolls?"

Alex smiled.

"I was doing my research while you were recovering from our little accident, Gene. You didn't quite tell us your full name, did you, Nathaniel?"

Nathaniel bared his teeth again. Gene felt a sudden urge to shove them down his throat, but with the tension building in the room and Alex's gaze in him, he refrained and settled instead for reassuring himself that he'd do it later.

"You see, I fibbed when I said I didn't know the name. During my research, I decided to have a look at some files from 1983. Specifically, at the files of James Nathaniel Plowman-Keats."

Comprehension dawned on Gene's face as he turned back to the man sprawled on the floor, adrenaline pounding through him as the memory of DCI Jim Keats came back, loud and clear, and more disturbing than any home truth Gene had ever heard.

"DCI Jim bloody Keats," he said softly, resuming his dangerous tone of voice, his eyes narrowing and his fists clenching once again. "Long time no see, eh, Jimbo? Though' you'd catch up with an old mate, did you?"

Keats laughed, writhing again, making crude, animal-like noises deep in his throat. Alex backed away slightly, shocked by the growling and cackling, but Gene simply grasped Keats on the throat and pushed his head back hard, causing a bolt of pain to shoot up Keats's neck.

"See? No morals, Alex," Keats hissed, his knee trying and failing to kick Gene as Gene simply put out his foot to stop it. "He doesn't care who he hurts, and sooner or later it will be you, Alex, it will be you-"

Alex slapped her hand over his face, shutting him up abruptly and drawing a whimper of pain from him. Gene smirked.

"I'm not listening to your pathetic excuses for lies any longer, Jim," she hissed, her voice laced with rage and poison, her face contorted in vicious hatred of the man now lying helpless in front of her. She drew her hand away and slapped him, hard, on the face, and stood up with some help from Gene's shoulder, turning away and beckoning for Gene to do the same as she called the police to come and pick Keats up.

As she flipped her phone down, Alex turned to see Gene just staring at her, his eyes devouring her features, almost hungry, somehow hesitant in the way that they refused to meet her eyes and yet were focused on her face and body. Alex moved forwards and took both his hands in hers, pressing his body against hers, looking up into his eyes, smiling as he gently wrapped his hands around her waist and finally met her eyes, his blue irises so bold and familiar, her hazel-flecked green ones warm and soft in his gaze.

"I won't let him ruin our heaven, Gene," Alex said quietly, her voice full of happiness, the knowledge that now she and Gene could make their way forwards without Keats's interruptions, without him trying to stop them, kill them even, just as he had done in 1983. Both Gene and Alex were lost in the moment, their eyes fixed on each others', their gaze firm but distant, thinking of the people they had left behind, the people they wouldn't see again for a long time but would always be thinking of, would always be familiar with and warmed by the thought of.

Their gaze was so intense and so emotion-filled that neither saw Keats draw a gun from his jacket.

_BANG. BANG._

There wasn't even time to scream before they were falling, onto the cold concrete floor, Gene's eyes closing in Alex's line of sight and scarlet blood spilling from his side, his body limp and the gaze he had shared so deeply with Alex gone from his blank eyes. Pain soared through Alex's body as she fell with him, her strength leaking out of her body with her blood and her last thoughts that she would never forgive Keats for this, and that at least she was dying with Gene, before blackness took over her soul and she breathed no more.

* * *

A/N: Ooh, and you all thought it was going to be so happy… but will it be? Am I cruel enough to deny them their happy ever after? You'll have to keep tuned to find out… please review, seriously, they make me amazingly happy, even one little review, even if it's just to say how much you hate that bastard Keats! Jazzola :)


	14. Chapter 14

"Mum? Mummy? Mum? Nurse, I think she's waking up!"

A flurry of activity caught Alex's attention, and the first thing she was fully conscious of was that the pain from her side where Keats had shot her was gone. The second thing was that Molly was there.

Wait… _MOLLY!_

"MOLS!" Alex screamed, pushing herself up and throwing her arms round her little girl, ignoring the banging pain in her head and squeezing Molly so hard the girl began thinking her mum would never let her go. Which, of course, was fine by Molly.

"Mummy… They thought you'd never come back… but I said you would and you have. I knew you wouldn't leave me, Mummy."

Alex choked back tears, with limited success; some spilled over her eyelids and began staining the hospital gown and Molly's hair. Molly sniffed as well, and the warmth of the tears leaking onto Alex's chest told her one thing; that this was the real world, she had woken up.

But what about Gene?

The nurse turned suddenly at a summons from another nurse, and put her hand on Alex's shoulder lightly.

"Sorry, Alex, one moment. The man in the next room's waking up as well- must be something in the air!"

It was just as she finished saying this that Alex heard a very familiar groan from someone, and a rugged Northern accent managing to say something semi-intelligible from the other side of the wall.

"Gene…" she whispered, and Molly gave her a surprised look.

"Do you know him, Mummy? They've been talking about him a lot in here. He was shot in the side of the face; they're amazed he managed to hang on long enough to get to the hospital."

Alex gave the broadest grin she had ever given, except maybe for the one when she had been holding her newborn baby Molly in her arms, as she realised exactly what Keats's bullets had done to her and Gene- instead of sending them on their way, to death, destroying them, they had sent them back to the real world, simply giving them the injuries that had forced them into limbo and saving their lives in the process. _He would be livid if he knew, _Alex thought, cuddling her daughter again and waiting for a nurse to walk back in before asking about Gene.

"Oh, you must have been listening," the nurse said, smiling. "Yes, a huge success story. Like with you, we managed to get the bullet out before it did enough damage to kill him. A very lucky man, he was. Found on a farm in Lancashire, but he was brought here for specialist treatment once he was stable."

Alex's smile was beginning to beat the sun for brightness. The nurse smiled back, a little confused but just happy to see both patients awake. This would call for some champers later on in the hospital canteen.

"Can I see him at some point?" she asked, and the nurse looked surprised but maintained her smile.

"I suppose. Sounds like you two went through a similar thing, anyway."

Molly turned and carried on hugging her mum as the nurse left, her smile luminous, and her young heart bursting with love and happiness and relief as she felt her mum's arms round her.

Alex knew then, for definite, that she was once again in the real world.

* * *

"You have a visitor, Mr Hunt."

Gene twisted round with a look of surprise on his face, and then clapped eyes on Alex, who was sitting on a hospital trolley with a huge grin on her face and a drip in her left wrist. Gene smiled as well, reaching out with one strong arm to take her hand in his, their beams telling each other everything they needed to know.

"Gene, I can't believe all this…"

"I know," Gene said softly, shifting to the side of the bed with some difficulty and getting one arm round her to hug her. Alex snuggled into his side, breathing in the familiar man-stink and feeling more than relieved at his calming presence. One vivid blue eye was covered by a bandage on the side of his face, covering the wound that had started the whole adventure in the first place, and Alex stroked it gently, knowing that it would be one scar that she would treasure forever.

"Careful, Bolly-Kecks, it's sore," Gene murmured, his hand catching hers and stroking it. Alex nodded and put her other hand up to carefully push a small section of bandage away and find the wound itself, red and stitched but no longer the horrific injury that had killed PC Gene Hunt.

"How's it feel, going straight from DCI to PC in the files?" she joked, and he grinned, leaning back against the headrest and closing his eyes as she slotted the bandage back into place.

"I'll always 'ave been someone's Guv, tha's all I need, Bolly."

Alex smiled, holding out an arm as Molly walked in, unsure of what to make of this situation but happy that both people had some company for once.

"Mummy?"

"Come here, sweetheart."

Molly gladly walked over and snuggled in, sitting on the chair next to the bed, her eyes on Gene.

"How do you know him, Mum?"

"We worked together for a long time, I just wanted to see if it was the same person, Molls," Alex replied, her spirits soaring as Molly gave Gene a smile and he returned it, in Alex's eyes not even looking the slightest bit less handsome for the bandage wound round his head. But then again, Alex might have been a bit biased with that opinion.

"What position are you, Mr Hunt?" Molly asked, and Gene and Alex exchanged glances.

"He was my DCI, Molls," Alex said, and Gene grinned.

"So why are you hugging?" Molly asked shrewdly, and Alex laughed, her laugh mingling with Gene's muffled sniggers, both trying to hold themselves in and failing.

"Mummy…?"

"It doesn't matter," Alex giggled, just as a nurse came in and motioned to Gene and Alex that they would have to cut this meeting short. "I'll tell you later, Molly."

Molly nodded her understanding and Alex pecked Gene on the cheek, very aware of Molly watching, before she was wheeled back to her own room and taken back to the peace of slumber, reassured that everything, it seemed, was going to be OK.

* * *

_The familiar, slightly breathy voice began finding its way into Alex's ears, and she shuddered as she recognised it for what it was; Keats's voice. He was walking towards her, the room they were stood in getting darker and obscuring him more and more as he approached her, until only his face was visible and his plump lips, moving carefully as he talked, the lips that had spat such poison and malice at Gene and belonging to the man who had tried to destroy Gene and Alex's happy ever after but instead had given it to them._

"_Alex… Gene doesn't trust you, he doesn't want you or care about you, he's just a brutal, lying Northern bastard. You're better off without him, Alex, he's not the man you want to spend the rest of your life with, is he?"_

"_Yes," Alex hissed back, only just able to see Keats's face in her dream but hoping that he could see hers, her narrowed eyes, her hate of him. "Yes, he is, Keats, and you know it. We're safe now, and you're just a sore loser; because of us, you lost Chris, Ray and Shaz, and now you've lost us as well and you didn't want to. You wanted to incarcerate us in Hell forever, and your little plan failed, didn't it? Well, we're free now, you failed and I'll never have to see you again, ever, only in my dreams, and I can deal with you here. I bet you were mad when you found out you'd sent us back to the real world, weren't you? We'll always win, Keats, because we're a team, unbreakable, un bloody breakable, and nothing you say or do can ever change that now. OK? So leave us alone."_

_Keats snarled at her, his animal face becoming savage and cruel, and swept away in a dramatic flurry of long, dark, red-tinged coat and vicious but meaningless threat. Alex stood in her dream with a smile on her face, Gene's presence appearing next to her but not visible, and reached back to take his hand as Keats vanished from her world, forever, beaten and subdued and sore._

"_We're free now, Gene. Free forever."_

_Gene's smile was felt instead of seen, and his gratitude and relief radiated from him as he squeezed her hand and the dream ended, with them the winners and the Devil returned to Hell._

* * *

In the year after Alex's shooting, she gradually rebuilt her life and returned to work, back in her position as DI. But after being away from Molly for so long, she was no longer quite so into her work, as was noticed by many of her colleagues, and she seemed to have a new obsession with 80's memorabilia and specifically 80's police memorabilia, collecting epaulette numbers, uniforms and old records in her garage. The number 6620 was always right at the front of the epaulette collection, although she would never explain why to her colleagues.

The other noticeable change about her was that she gained a new partner, one Gene Hunt, who shortly afterwards secured a position as DCI when Alex's DCI retired. He seemed very different to the staunch, upright DCI who had left, and for that he earned a lot of respect and warmth from his fellow officers, even though he did get into trouble pretty much every day for using "inappropriate language" in the office and seemed to be the sole user of the swear box sat next to his office, which became full of 50ps and pound coins surprisingly quickly, much to the amusement of the department. At least it paid for the occasional drinking session after work, which Gene and Alex enjoyed most of all.

Molly was the person who noticed the most differences in her mother; the main one was that she spent a lot more time at home and with Molly, taking her out somewhere every weekend, be it bowling, shopping or just wandering around the park. Gene often tagged along, joking around with Molly and relaxing from long days at work. He hit it off instantly with Molly, due to their similarities- both stubborn, both hard-working, both irritated when told they were wrong, both headstrong and determined- but these qualities did make for long silences after arguments, and more than once Alex had had to spend days making peace in the household again. She seemed to be a lot more relaxed and peaceful herself, but no longer allowed Molly to watch films with a lot of shooting in, saying it reminded her too much of what had happened to her. Gene, having no such qualms with these films, became a regular at the local cinema, taking Molly and occasionally a friend in to watch them instead. They weren't a perfect family, Molly would often reflect, but they were perfect enough for her, and she knew it.

Just like they had always said they would, Gene and Alex had stuck together, and fought together to get the ending they wanted. Or, as Gene would say, they were still un bloody breakable.

* * *

A/N: And that concludes this fic! Yay! :) If people want a sequel or something, just PM me or say in a review. I hope this went OK, and people enjoyed it- please review! Thanks for sticking with me, you guys rock. :) Jazzola :)


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